The head of human resources at GitHub quit because of the dismissal of a Jewish company employee who warned his colleagues in Washington to beware of the Nazis.
Microsoft’s proprietary platform – which software developers use to share and collaborate on code – said its HR chief took “personal responsibility” for the flap and stepped down on Saturday after an outside investigation found flaws in the form how the termination was carried out.
The unidentified employee was fired on January 8, two days after he sent a message to Slack asking DC co-workers to be careful while Trump supporters invaded the Capitol.
“Stay safe, bro, the Nazis are around,” wrote the official, according to TechCrunch.
Photos of the Capitol riots showed the rebels sporting a variety of Nazi symbols and white supremacy. For example, authorities last week arrested Robert Keith Packer, a man from Virginia seen wearing a sweatshirt with the words “Camp Auschwitz”, an apparent reference to the notorious Nazi death camp.
Despite this, one of the employee’s colleagues complained about his message and an HR representative claimed, in firing him, that he had demonstrated a “pattern of behavior that is not in line with company policy,” he told TechCrunch.
The employee’s resignation sparked a backlash among many of his GitHub colleagues, who distributed a letter demanding that the company denounce the Nazis and white supremacy, according to Business Insider.
GitHub commissioned an independent investigation on January 11 that revealed “significant errors of judgment and procedure” in the case, chief operating officer Erica Brescia said in a blog on Sunday.
“In light of these findings, we immediately revoked the decision to separate from the employee and contacted his representative,” she wrote. “To the employee, we want to say publicly: we sincerely apologize.
GitHub did not immediately respond to an email on Monday asking if the employee returned to work there.
Brescia did not identify the HR executive who resigned as a result of the investigation, but Carrie Olesen was listed as director of human resources on the GitHub website earlier this month, according to an archived version of the page. Olesen’s name no longer appeared on the website on Monday morning.
Brescia also acknowledged that “white Nazis and supremacists” were part of the crowd that carried out the “terrible” attack on the Capitol that left five people dead and forced lawmakers into hiding.
“Employees are free to express concerns about Nazis, anti-Semitism, white supremacy or any other form of discrimination or harassment in internal discussions,” said Bresica’s blog post.
“We expect all employees to be respectful, professional and follow GitHub’s policies on discrimination and harassment.”