A Jewish GitHub official who was fired for warning co-workers in Slack to be protected from the Nazis during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol refused to accept his job back after an offer from the company, GitHub said TechCrunch.
“We offered the employee his job back immediately after reviewing the results of the investigation and he declined,” a GitHub spokesman said. TechCrunch. GitHub shared the same statement with The Verge.
“The company and I have reached a friendly settlement,” the official said in a statement to the TechCrunch. “I appreciate that they have denounced white supremacy and the dangers it poses to everyone.” The terms of the resolution are unclear, but the official “had previously told me that he was seeking compensation or some other form of reconciliation”, TechCrunch said.
GitHub fired the employee two days after he wrote “Be safe, bro, the Nazis are about” to colleagues in Slack on January 6, as reported for the first time Business Insider. Approximately 200 of the company’s 1,700 employees signed an open letter asking the company for an explanation, and employees began using the word “Nazi” in Slack to describe the Capitol rioters.
After an independent investigation, GitHub CEO Nat Friedman admitted that “significant mistakes were made” in an internal message to employees on January 16, and the company offered the employee his job back. The company’s head of HR also resigned.
March 15 update, 8:10 PM ET: Added that GitHub shared a statement with The Verge.