GitHub, a Microsoft subsidiary and internet host for software development, admitted to firing an employee in error who warned colleagues to be safe from “Nazis” at the Capitol siege and has offered the person his job back.
The incident began on Jan. 8 when the company fired an employee, who is Jewish and told his co-workers to stay safe from “Nazis” amid the influx of President Trump’s supporters to the nation’s capital, which offended another colleague. The firing was first reported by Business Insider.
Employees raised concerns about the person’s dismissal, including an open letter from about 200 colleagues, according to the Verge, and the company decided to launch an outside investigation. The investigation revealed “significant errors of judgment and procedure,” the company announced in a blog post on Sunday.
In support of their former colleague, some employees went as far as to use the word “Nazi” in their work Slack channels to describe the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 as Congress certified President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
“Others have already said so, but I just want to say it explicitly myself — I think that nazis were present at some protests on Jan 6, and that it’s very scary to see those ideas on display,” one employee wrote in Slack.
Another responded, “100% Nazis were there, and 1000000000% Nazis are scary as f— and do not belong anywhere. PARTICULARLY AT GitHub!”
As a result of the investigation, the head of the company’s human resources department resigned, and GitHub has been in contact with the former employee to bring him back.
“On the evening of Friday, January 15th, the investigation revealed significant errors of judgment and procedure. Our head of HR has taken personal accountability and resigned from GitHub yesterday morning, Saturday, January 16th,” the blog post stated. “To the employee we wish to say publicly: we sincerely apologize.”
The blog post also included a past statement from GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia about the Capitol riot, which left five people dead and has led to more than a hundred arrests.
“It was appalling last week to watch a violent mob, including Nazis and white supremacists, attack the US Capitol. That these hateful ideologies were able to reach the sacred seat of our democratic republic in 2021 is sickening. The views that propelled this attack are morally abhorrent to me personally, and, I know, to our entire leadership team and company,” they said. “GitHub condemns the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th and any and all belief systems that are discriminatory. Antisemitism, neo-Nazis, and white supremacy — along with all other forms of racism — are vile and have no place in our community.”
During the Capitol siege, some anti-Semitic symbols were on display. One man, Robert Keith Packer, was arrested after participating in the insurrection, and he was wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt during the Jan. 6 melee. Other participants were wearing shirts printed with “6MWE,” which is an acronym on the far-right standing for “6 Million Wasn’t Enough,” a reference to the number of Jewish people murdered during the Holocaust.
