Corporate Counsel Turns to Partner Barbara Hoey to Discuss the Controversial Firing of a Google Engineer for Sexist Remarks

Corporate Counsel turned to Barbara Hoey in the article ​“Google Engineer Firing: ​‘No-Brainer’ or More Complicated” discussing Google’s firing of a software engineer after he distributed a controversial memo on gender diversity. Google is treading a fine line between protected workplace speech and rhetoric that creates a hostile work environment.

According to Barbara, Google firing this employee was both unequivocally legal and also just the right thing to do. Barbara stated, ​“In the context of this memo, you do exactly what Google did. It’s a no-brainer.”

Barbara explains that federal law allows an employee to make legitimate work complaints in a reasonable manner. ​“I think he [the employee who was fired] failed on both counts,” she added. His work complaint morphed into ​“absolutely stereotyped statements about an entire class of people, and the way he chose to communicate it was ​‘inappropriate and disruptive of the workplace.’”

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