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Ex-Googler's Anti-Conservative Bias Case Headed to Arbitration

Ex-Googler's Anti-Conservative Bias Case Headed to Arbitration

(Bloomberg) -- The engineer who sued Google after he was fired for blasting the company with allegations of anti-conservative bias won’t get his day in court after all.

Ex-Googler's Anti-Conservative Bias Case Headed to Arbitration

James Damore’s claims against the Alphabet Inc. unit will be heard behind closed doors in private arbitration instead of in a public courtroom under an agreement filed by lawyers on both sides in California state court in San Jose.

The re-routing of the case comes five months after a pro-employer ruling by the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court that made it harder for workers to keep discrimination complaints from being shunted into arbitration.

Another former Google employee who joined Damore’s lawsuit will also proceed in arbitration, while a third plaintiff has opted to drop out of the case, according to the filing. Two other men who applied but weren’t hired for jobs at the internet giant will continue to pursue their claims in court.

All the men accused Google of political and gender discrimination in the complaint they jointly filed earlier this year. They said Google reserves certain jobs for “diverse” individuals and defines that as “black, Hispanic, veterans, persons with disabilities” and women.

Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer for the men, declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg

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