GitHub admits fault in firing of Jewish employee, head of HR resigns

> On Friday, January 8th, GitHub separated with an employee.

What an absurdly passive corporate euphemism for GitHub wrongfully firing one of their employees.

I mean it's better to have some co-workers who are dicks, some that call you a grammar nazi and maybe even some who disagree with you politically than to play a Russian roulette with words every day - you never know which one is loaded and terminates your career.

My guess is that someone interpreted this as Trump supporters are Nazis and as an accusation of their coworkers

These censorious companies are way too sensitive for this. I don't get how these are the same people who promote entrepreneurship and taking huge risks in business and tech but the second someone says a word that hurts their feelings they should be fired.

> “Others have already said so, but I just want to say it

> explicitly myself - I think that nazis were present at

> some protests on Jan 6, and that it’s very scary to see

> those ideas on display,” wrote one engineer in Slack.

I am yet to see evidence of Nazis being at the protests - I don't think anybody openly displaying support for Nazi ideals would find wide support in a pro-America crowd.

Assuming there were some in the crowd, I am slightly concerned that what was actually meant was "all of those people were Nazis", in which case this is dangerous rhetoric.

> “100% Nazis were there, and 1000000000% Nazis are scary as

> fuck and do not belong anywhere. PARTICULARLY AT GitHub!”

> responded another.

This idea that any group "do not belong anywhere" is quite scary. Once you have gained the title of 'Nazi' (which seems to be a more abused label in modern times), then there seems to be this idea that you have no place in society - and that you can have all services removed from you.

Even if you are a literal Nazi (or Communist, or <insert bad ideology>), as long as you abide by the laws of the land, you can be a functioning member of society, and as such need the same basic protections. These people should be allowed to open bank accounts, buy groceries, go to work, pay taxes, drink at a bar, etc. We can't de-humanize people because we disagree with the way they think.

> “Hubbers are free to express concerns about neo-Nazis,

> antisemitism, white supremacy or any other form of

> discrimination or harassment,” he wrote. “And of course,

> we expect Hubbers to be respectful, professional, and to

> follow GitHub policies on discrimination and harassment at

> all times.”

I miss the days when it was taboo to mention politics or religion in companies. I used to work with a "Nazi" and a "Communist" (as well as a whole range of political leanings), and we worked together fine. I've also worked with alcoholics and drug addicts. Generally we all agreed that if we want to do these things, we do it off company time.

I'd say that Microsoft should fire all of GitHub management for this -- as well as the other employees who stirred the pot.

That's great that github acknowledges that employees are free to talk about their concerns of bigotry, but calling everyone outside of your party a nazi is just as bigoted. Tone it down.

How about offering the employee a generous severance package and their job back?

edit: Based on their blog it seems like they did, the linked article just didn't mention this.