Google employee fired over diversity row considers legal action

The computer engineer fired by Google for suggesting women are less suited to certain roles in tech and leadership is considering taking legal action against the company. James Damore, a chess master who studied at Harvard, Princeton and MIT and worked at the search engine's Mountain View HQ in California, caused outrage when he circulated a manifesto at the weekend complaining about Google's "ideological echo chamber" and claiming women have lower tolerance of stress and that conservatives are more conscientious. He was fired on Monday after the search giant's chief executive, Sundar Pichai, said portions of Damore's 10-page memo "violate our code of conduct and cross the line by advancing harmful gender stereotypes". Damore has now said he would "likely be pursuing legal action". "I have a right to express my concerns about the terms and conditions of my working environment and to bring up potentially illegal behaviour, which is what my document does," he said in an email reported by the New York Times. In a further email to the rightwing website Breitbart, he reportedly said: "They just fired me for'perpetuating gender stereotypes'."