As tensions rise in the chaos of today’s online world, extreme labels are thrown around very loosely – and in many instances people are losing their job over it, as we’ve continuously covered.
During the riots in Capitol Hill last week, an employee at the Microsoft-owned GitHub took to a Slack channel to allege to fellow employees there were “Nazis” in town. He lost his job soon after for using divisive language. However, GitHub employees disagree with the company; they penned an open letter demanding to know why the employee was terminated.
“Stay safe Homies, Nazis are about,” the employee wrote in the Slack Channel alongside a sad-face emoji. His message triggered a debate on the use of “divisive” language in a corporate messaging board. Later that day, the employee, who preferred to remain anonymous while talking to Business Insider, was reprimanded by the HR department. Two days later, he was fired.
In response to the employee’s termination, about 200 of the 1,700 GitHub employees signed an open letter to the company’s leadership demanding to know why the employee was terminated.
GitHub CEO Nat Friedman responded to the letter by denouncing the events that took place last week at the US Capitol and promised the company would “take any and all appropriate action following a thorough investigation” into the employee’s firing.
