Technology company GitHub has apologized for firing a Jewish employee who cautioned his colleagues about the presence of Nazis in Washington on the day of the assault of the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, TechCrunch reported.
After a probe found “significant errors of judgment and procedure” in the termination of the employee, GitHub’s head of human resources resigned, GitHub Chief Operating Officer Erica Brescia said on Sunday.
“In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative,” Brescia said in a blog, adding that the company apologized to that employee.
GitHub, which is based in San Francisco, fired the unnamed employee on Jan. 8 but later engaged an outside investigator to conduct a probe after other employees complained about the action. The company has employees across the country, including in the Washington, D.C., area.
The blog did not the mention the names of the HR head and the employee.
TechCrunch reported the employee was Jewish and that he was fired after he made a comment on Jan. 6 in Slack saying, “stay safe homies, Nazis are about.”
The Jan. 6 assault in Washington left five people dead as U.S. President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol building, trying to halt the certification by Congress of President-elect Joe Biden’s election win.
A man wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt was among those arrested.
Auschwitz was the Nazi death camp where about 1.1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed in gas chambers and by other means during World War Two.
Trump, who has challenged the validity of Biden’s victory without producing evidence, initially praised his supporters but later condemned the violence.
Kanishka Singh reported from Bengaluru; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
