GitHub apologizes for firing Jewish employee who warned of Nazis in U.S.
Capitol: TechCrunch
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[January 18, 2021]
(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.
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 , 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 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.
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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
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.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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