(Reuters) - Technology company GitHub has apologized for firing a Jewish employee who cautioned his colleagues about the presence of Nazis in Washington on the day of the assault of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, TechCrunch reported.
FILE PHOTO: Tear gas is released into a crowd of protesters during clashes with Capitol police at a rally to contest the certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results by the U.S. Congress, at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S, January 6, 2021. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo
After a probe found “significant errors of judgment and procedure” in the termination of the employee, GitHub’s head of human resources resigned, GitHub Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia said on Sunday.
"In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative," Brescia said in a blog bit.ly/2KnkVhI, adding that the company apologized to that employee.
GitHub, which is based in San Francisco, fired the unnamed employee on Jan. 8 but later engaged an outside investigator to conduct a probe after other employees complained about the action. The company has employees across the country, including in the Washington, D.C., area.
The blog did not the mention the names of the HR head and the employee.
TechCrunch tcrn.ch/38QQtG1 reported the employee was Jewish and that he was fired after he made a comment on Jan. 6 in Slack saying, "stay safe homies, Nazis are about".
The Jan. 6 assault in Washington left five people dead as President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building, trying to halt the certification by Congress of President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.
A man wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt was among those arrested.
Auschwitz was the Nazi death camp where about 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed in gas chambers and by other means during World War Two.
Trump, who has challenged the validity of Biden’s victory without producing evidence, initially praised his supporters but later condemned the violence.
avrus on January 18th, 2021 at 15:30 UTC »
"GitHub realized this weekend they are likely to be on the receiving end of a multi million dollar lawsuit, that will no doubt make National headlines. In an attempt to stave that off they served up the head of their HR department as an offering".
abdulqadirali on January 18th, 2021 at 14:58 UTC »
From their blog
On the evening of Friday, January 15th, the investigation revealed significant errors of judgment and procedure. Our head of HR has taken personal accountability and resigned from GitHub yesterday morning, Saturday, January 16th.
In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative.
n3wtr1n0_ on January 18th, 2021 at 13:15 UTC »
Article doesn’t mention WHY GitHub HR saw that as a fireable offence tho?