James Damore, a former Google engineer fired for writing a memo suggesting women were less suited than men for technology jobs, has dropped his lawsuit against the company.
Damore was turfed from the Mountain View digital advertising giant in 2017. His internal memo had argued that biological differences between women and men “may explain why we don’t see equal representation of women in tech and leadership.”
The memo set off a firestorm of anger across the political spectrum, with critics attacking his views on diversity and supporters claiming Google’s response represented political correctness run amok. Google’s firing of Damore sparked charges that the firm was biased against conservatives.
Damore sued Google in January 2018, claiming it discriminated against men, conservatives and white people, using “illegal hiring quotas” to employ a certain percentage of women and minorities. Company diversity programs incentivized illegal discrimination, and employees who expressed views not shared by the majority of Googlers were singled out and punished, Damore alleged.
He agreed last year to address the matter in arbitration, a move his lawyer said at the time was necessary because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that favored Google.
Damore in a Santa Clara County Superior Court filing on May 7 asked for a ruling that would permanently dismiss his claims. Google had agreed to the dismissal, the filing said. Court records indicate the court had not as of Thursday ruled on the request. His lawyer, Harmeet Dhillon, told Bloomberg that the agreement with Google on the request prohibited her from saying anything more than was in the court filing. Google declined to comment, Bloomberg reported.The conservative backlash against Google sparked by Damore’s firing “marked the beginning of increased scrutiny by the right wing on Google’s diversity work,” noted an NBC News report Wednesday that alleged the scrutiny has led the firm to back away from diversity efforts. Google’s chief diversity officer denied the claim, saying the company was “maturing” its diversity programs.
