GitHub apologizes to the employee it fired for using the term “Nazis” on January 6, offers him his job back, and says the company's head of HR has resigned

The company is offering the employee his job back — GitHub is admitting that a Jewish employee was fired in error and is offering him his job back.

The Verge 2021-01-18 Zoe Schiffer

Context & Ripple Effects

GitHub's reversal follows reports that it fired a Jewish employee over an internal Slack message during the Capitol riot; roughly 200 staff had questioned the decision in a letter challenging the firing. Employees then used the same term in Slack to protest the unexplained dismissal, turning an individual employment decision into a visible internal dispute.

The company now acknowledges the firing was erroneous, offers reinstatement, and says its HR chief has resigned. Related coverage later records that the employee declined the offer to return, underscoring that a reversal does not automatically repair trust.

First-order effects

The fired employee receives an apology and an offer to return, while GitHub loses its head of HR amid the correction.
GitHub must address the staff concerns that escalated from the original dismissal into internal Slack protests.

Second-order effects

The reversal gives GitHub employees a concrete precedent for challenging disciplinary decisions they view as inconsistent or unexplained.
GitHub's leadership and HR teams face greater pressure to make workplace-speech enforcement legible to employees, especially in politically charged internal discussions.

Third-order effects

The episode points to employment discipline becoming a governance and retention issue at tech companies when internal communications make disputed decisions visible at scale.
If similar reversals recur, companies will be pushed toward clearer escalation and review processes for employee-speech cases rather than relying on opaque HR judgments.

The trend: Internal workplace speech disputes are increasingly testing whether tech companies can apply personnel rules consistently while retaining employee trust.

Discussion

@githubpolicy @githubpolicy on x
We found significant errors of judgment and procedure in a recent employee separation. We have reversed the separation, and our head of HR has taken personal accountability and resigned from GitHub. We apologize sincerely to the employee. https://github.blog/...
@ekp Ellen K. Pao on x
So many questions like Can you actually take personal accountability without putting your name to it What separation package did she get What is being done to prevent this from happening again What other HR decisions need to be reversed Does Nat get dinged for hiring&managing her…
@inafried Ina Fried on x
Microsoft-owned GitHub apologizes for controversial firing, offers employee job back https://www.axios.com/...
@svqjournalist Sergio Quintana on x
GitHub backtracks after firing a Jewish employee who warned colleagues in DC to be careful about Nazi's as the Capitol was swarmed by rioters. Among those in the crowd that besieged the Capitol were self described Neo Nazis and White Supremacists. https://www.theverge.com/...
@thomasfuchs @thomasfuchs on x
“We're sorry we've been called out on this.” https://twitter.com/...
@migueldeicaza Miguel de Icaza on x
Very unusual for Corporate America -which has a tendency of circling the wagons and doubling down on these HR disputes- to reverse course: https://twitter.com/...
@threddyrex @threddyrex on x
extremely pleased to see this https://twitter.com/...
@shannonvallor Shannon Vallor on x
I know there are still problems with GitHub and ICE etc. But can we at least acknowledge how rare it is to see accountability for unethical and discriminatory HR actions, and the need to now set this as a standard that we expect others to meet? https://twitter.com/...
@jillwohlner Jill Wohlner on x
Also notice this was put out on a Sunday of a holiday weekend in hopes of getting less press. https://twitter.com/...
@iamjkeating @iamjkeating on x
This was horrific to witness from the inside. I'm feeling much better about my employment given this resolution. It's not often you see this much public transparency on a matter such as this. (I'll admit there are still significant issues remaining) https://twitter.com/...
@itsthebrandi @itsthebrandi on x
I, for one, would like to know if there was a nice settlement and whether the employees sending anti-semitic shit are still there. https://twitter.com/...
@rafaelshimunov Raf on x
Respect to all the antifascists working for @github, who fought back against the firing of an employee who cited that Nazis were indeed attempting a coup at the Capitol. https://www.theverge.com/...
@tef_ebooks Tef on x
here's a list of unanswered questions about this https://twitter.com/...
@katerosebee Kate on x
This kind of shitshow is what happens when ex: a director or VP is consistently enabled by their company to disappear employees they don't like or consider troublemakers. It's not worth this just to keep some senior manager from having a tantrum. https://twitter.com/...
@jsnover Jeffrey Snover on x
Wow. Talk about courage and being incapable of sustained error! Everyone makes mistakes. How those mistakes are handled is a gauge of character. Kudos to Github. https://twitter.com/...
@nerdyandnatural @nerdyandnatural on x
I hope several people are fired for this and that employee is given a settlement whether he decides to come back to his job or not https://twitter.com/...
@polotek Marco Rogers on x
What other hiring decisions need to be reversed? Whew, shit. People don't wanna have that conversation. They're gonna want to treat this as an “isolated incident”. Rather than facing the fact that their leaders have been harming employees for who knows how long. https://twitter.c…
@samstarling Sam Starling on x
“Employee separation” is the new “conscious uncoupling” https://twitter.com/...
@jennleaver Jenn Leaver on x
Genuinely shocked (in a good way) to see this outcome. This tweet is a bit misleading. Reversing the separation doesn't mean the employee has accepted the offer to return. This is one small step in righting THIS wrong, not the solution to fixing everything that's happened. https:…
@wboscoho Bosco on x
“The warning sparked criticism from a colleague who took offense at the use of the word” So... why did his colleague object to the term? https://twitter.com/...
@ketanj0 Ketan Joshi on x
Github fired a Jewish employee because that employee warned colleagues about the presence of neo nazi white nationalist terrorist. Absolutely amazing. https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
@rakshesha @rakshesha on x
“We saw a lawsuit coming and started frantically hitting ctrl+z while pushing the head of HR into the path of the oncoming discovery train.” https://twitter.com/...
@malwarejake Jake Williams on x
Remember the ethical question I asked on Friday about possibly looking for those supporting violence at the Capitol? I was completely unaware that GitHub had already done the opposite and is now reversing their mistake. https://twitter.com/...
@jillwohlner Jill Wohlner on x
Heads of HR don't operate in a vacuum and they make moves with approvals from their boss in the C-Suite. https://twitter.com/...
@william_fitz William Fitzgerald on x
Wow. The Github worker fired for telling people in D.C. to watch out for Nazi's has been reinstated & the head of HR resigned following “significant errors of judgment and procedure”. Huge win for tech workers pushing back against terrible management. https://github.blog/... http…
@benadida Ben Adida on x
Thank you @github, for the investigation, correction, and apology. https://twitter.com/...
@kateconger O...K on x
Wow. GitHub reinstating an employee who told coworkers to stay safe from Nazis during the Capitol riots: https://twitter.com/...
@sangster Ben on x
“GitHub reverses a poor decision instead of doubling down” was not on my 2021 bingo card https://twitter.com/...
@evankinney @evankinney on x
hey, cool! good job. but: - did you financially compensate the employee in question and offer them assistance finding a new job if desired, because i'd for sure not want to work there anymore - you still have contracts with ICE. when are you going to get rid of them? https://twit…
@infosec_taylor Ashley on x
Why should we call out companies/people for doing crappy things? Because it can work. It isn't “drama.” It's asking for change. https://twitter.com/...
@zoeschiffer Zo Schiffer on x
BREAKING: GitHub admits the Jewish employee was fired in error and is offering him his job back. The company's head of HR is resigning. https://twitter.com/...
@privacylawyerd @privacylawyerd on x
If you're “in communications with his representative,” you haven't “reversed the separation,” you've just realized you screwed up, are liable for an employment discrimination law suit, & are negotiating a settlement of some kind. https://twitter.com/...
@emilygorcenski @emilygorcenski on x
Holy crap https://twitter.com/...
@carnage4life Dare Obasanjo on x
GitHub has rehired the Jewish employee it fired for saying “Nazis are about” during the Capitol Hill insurrection and their head of HR has resigned for the bad decision. This is a quick and welcome response to the employee outcry. https://github.blog/...
@nokusu Anthony Ramine on x
> In a Slack message from 2014, one staffer wrote that “nazis gave the jews free healthcare.” He still works at GitHub today. https://www.theverge.com/...
@zoeschiffer @zoeschiffer on x
The guy on the left still works at GitHub. The guy on the right was fired :/ https://twitter.com/...
@bascule @bascule on x
That @GitHub would fire a Jewish employee in order to support a pro-Nazi employee, along with their ongoing ICE contract, has me seriously considering if I should start actively moving all of my projects elsewhere https://www.theverge.com/...

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