Trump supporters stand on the armored vehicle of the U.S. Capitol Police while others take over the steps of the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, while Congress works to ratify the votes of the Electoral College.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
Microsoft owner GitHub, the code-sharing website for software developers, said on Sunday that the company’s head of human resources had resigned after an investigation into the dismissal of a Jewish employee found ‘significant errors of judgment and procedures’.
On January 8, GitHub fired one of its employees after expressing concern about colleagues in Washington DC when a crowd of protesters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the US capital. The terminated employee told TechCrunch in an interview published Friday that he made a comment in Slack, saying “stay safe friends, what Nazis are about.”
GitHub employees expressed concern about why the company fired the employee immediately afterwards, according to a statement from Erica Brescia, chief operating officer. After an independent investigation, the company found ‘significant errors of judgment and procedures’ regarding the dismissal of the employee, Brescia said.
“Our head of HR has accepted personal liability and resigned from GitHub on Saturday morning, January 16,” Brescia said in a blog post on Sunday. The company did not disclose the name of the head of human resources who resigned, but Carrie Olesen served in the first place.
A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a Conferderate battle flag on the second floor of the US Capitol near the entrance of the Senate after violating the security defense, in Washington, January 6, 2021.
Mike Theiler | Reuters
A company spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Brescia said GitHub had ‘reversed’ its decision to divorce the employee immediately and was in communication with its representative. ‘
“We want to say to the employee in public: we sincerely apologize,” Brescia said.
The company’s chief executive, Nat Friedman, acknowledged in the post that the violent mob did include ‘Nazis and white supremacists’.
FBI spokeswoman Christina Pullen said in a statement on Wednesday that a man photographed wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” shirt during the riot had been arrested. The next day, a riot photographed in the halls of the Capitol with a Confederate battle flag was also arrested.
“Employees are free to express their concerns about Nazis, anti-Semitism, white supremacy or any other form of discrimination or harassment in internal discussions,” Friedman said in a statement.