Evidently it wasn't Ellen Pao who precipitated this shitstorm. Alexis Ohanian, a founder of Reddit, who should know better, made this change to their staff unannounced, unexplained, and then proceeded to make flip comments. After mods "blacked out" vast tracts of Reddit, he has made terse partial apologies.

However, there are other indications Ellen Pao doesn't know how to handle Reddit employees: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/3c0idl/i_am_dacvak_fo...

Firing a legitimately ill employee who is about to return to work, and who, to all appearances is eager to work hard as he did before, is a rookie move. On top of that she is alleged to have told this employee he is being dismissed because he is ill. Mishandling a dismissal when you yourself just got out of one of the highest profile employment disputes ever... I'm boggled.