Judge declines Google's motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging hiring bias, first filed by James Damore, who exited the lawsuit and is in arbitration with Google
Google discrimination case first brought by James Damore can proceed https://bayareane.ws/2wKT5RW via @mercnews
Context & Ripple Effects
James Damore was fired after his diversity memo triggered an NLRB finding that its statements were so harmful and disruptive that Google was within its rights to let him go; he then converted his grievance into a class action alleging Google discriminates against white male conservatives. The suit has since outlived its founder — Damore has left the case and is pressing his own claims in arbitration.
The ruling matters because Google's dismissal motion was its cleanest path to killing a class action whose most famous name is already gone. It also lands on a company that just paid $11M to settle a 2015 age-discrimination hiring suit, its second concurrent exposure on hiring-bias claims.
First-order effects
- The remaining plaintiffs' hiring-bias class action proceeds into fuller litigation despite Damore's exit, forcing Google to defend its hiring practices in court while simultaneously arbitrating with Damore individually.
Second-order effects
- Having just paid out on the age-discrimination class action, Google faces mounting pressure to reach a similar settlement here rather than let a second hiring-bias case run through discovery and trial.
Third-order effects
- If high-profile plaintiffs keep exiting class actions for private arbitration while anonymous co-plaintiffs carry the suit, big-tech employment disputes may split into two tracks: headline names in confidential arbitration, aggregate claims litigated publicly.
The trend: Hiring-bias claims against major tech employers are migrating from public class actions toward private arbitration, even as the underlying class litigation survives without them.