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GitHub apologizes for firing Jewish employee who warned of Nazis in U.S. Capitol

25 points by nabla9 6y ago

Corrado 6y ago
Wow, GitHub's head of HR resigned over the matter. This seems like it might run a bit deeper than firing a single employee.
- burlesona 6y ago
  From the actual GitHub apology, they said that the investigation they hired revealed significant failures and errors in judgement, so yes that sounds like more than just one individual being treated wrongly. We won’t know, and don’t need to, but it’s fairly common for a high level exec who was in charge when there is a big screw-up underneath them to be fired. In those situations, if the company feels the screwup wasn’t mostly the exec’s fault, but they still must be held accountable, offering them the chance to resign is a way to let them save face to some degree while still facing consequences. It’s a softer firing. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that’s what happened in this case.
- smt88 6y ago
  It was an egregious mistake and PR disaster. It wouldn't be fair to fire some mid-level HR manager over it. The head of HR should be held responsible for her department, and she was. A counter-example is the VW emissions cheating scandal, where the execs blamed and fired mid-level engineers. If a company gives orders, people who give the orders are culpable, not the people who receive them.
olooney 6y ago
Link to the actual apology: https://github.blog/2021-01-17-update-on-an-employee-matter/ https://github.blog/2021-01-17-update-on-an-employee-matter/ Unusually for a corporate missive, they actually use the phrase "we sincerely apologize" instead of the usual non-apology (e.g., "mistakes were made.")
detaro 6y ago
two large previous threads yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25812655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25812655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25815452 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25815452
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
threat17 6y ago
Jewish privilege is having dozens of media outlets rush to defend you when fired.

25 points by nabla9 6y ago

Wow, GitHub's head of HR resigned over the matter. This seems like it might run a bit deeper than firing a single employee.

burlesona 6y ago
From the actual GitHub apology, they said that the investigation they hired revealed significant failures and errors in judgement, so yes that sounds like more than just one individual being treated wrongly. We won’t know, and don’t need to, but it’s fairly common for a high level exec who was in charge when there is a big screw-up underneath them to be fired. In those situations, if the company feels the screwup wasn’t mostly the exec’s fault, but they still must be held accountable, offering them the chance to resign is a way to let them save face to some degree while still facing consequences. It’s a softer firing. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that’s what happened in this case.
smt88 6y ago
It was an egregious mistake and PR disaster. It wouldn't be fair to fire some mid-level HR manager over it. The head of HR should be held responsible for her department, and she was. A counter-example is the VW emissions cheating scandal, where the execs blamed and fired mid-level engineers. If a company gives orders, people who give the orders are culpable, not the people who receive them.

olooney 6y ago

Link to the actual apology: https://github.blog/2021-01-17-update-on-an-employee-matter/ https://github.blog/2021-01-17-update-on-an-employee-matter/ Unusually for a corporate missive, they actually use the phrase "we sincerely apologize" instead of the usual non-apology (e.g., "mistakes were made.")

detaro 6y ago

two large previous threads yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25812655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25812655 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25815452 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25815452

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

threat17 6y ago

Jewish privilege is having dozens of media outlets rush to defend you when fired.