YouTube Hiring For Some Positions Excluded White and Asian Males, Lawsuit says

[GefJeff]

[quote]YouTube last year stopped hiring white and Asian males for technical positions because they didn’t help the world’s largest video site achieve its goals for improving diversity, according to a civil lawsuit filed by a former employee.
The lawsuit, filed by Arne Wilberg, a white male who worked at Google for nine years, including four years as a recruiter at YouTube, alleges the division of Alphabet Inc.’s Google set quotas for hiring minorities. Last spring, YouTube recruiters were allegedly instructed to cancel interviews with applicants who weren’t female, black or Hispanic, and to “purge entirely” the applications of people who didn’t fit those categories, the lawsuit claims.

A Google spokeswoman said the company will vigorously defend itself in the lawsuit. “We have a clear policy to hire candidates based on their merit, not their identity,” she said in a statement. “At the same time, we unapologetically try to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates for open roles, as this helps us hire the best people, improve our culture, and build better products.”

People familiar with YouTube’s and Google’s hiring practices in interviews corroborated some of the lawsuit’s allegations, including the hiring freeze of white and Asian technical employees, and YouTube’s use of quotas.[/quote]
[url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/youtube-hiring-for-some-positions-excluded-white-and-asian-males-lawsuit-says-1519948013]Source1[/url]

[quote]Arne Wilberg, a former recruiter at the Google-owned video website, said he was fired for speaking out against the company’s practices last year when it cancelled interviews with candidates who were not female, black or Hispanic for technical jobs.

Mr Wilberg’s lawsuit said YouTube wanted to “purge entirely” white and Asian candidates and claims the company broke discrimination laws when it dismissed him after nine years working for Google.

[...]

Google, which files regular diversity reports on its employees in the US, says 69pc of are male and 56pc are white, against 35pc Asian and 2pc black. In high-tech roles the gap is greater, with 80pc of roles filled by men, and the difference has only budget slightly in recent years.

The lawsuit claims Google has a policy of “systematically discriminating in favour [of] job applicants who are Hispanic, African American, or female, and against Caucasian and Asian men”.

Mr Wilberg said YouTube attempted to cover up its ban on hiring white and Asian men by deleting emails and other records of its diversity requirements.[/quote]
[url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2018/03/02/youtube-stopped-hiring-white-men-attempt-boost-diversity-lawsuit/]Source2[/url]

[media]https://twitter.com/KirstenGrind/status/969378671218716677[/media]

[url=https://www.scribd.com/document/372751852/Wilberg-v-Google-Recruiter-that-was-fired-for-refusing-to-discriminate]Wilberg v. Google Lawsuit[/url] (in case you'd like to read it yourself)

If not, here's some highlights:

[quote][img]https://preview.ibb.co/crqE2n/Ex1.png[/img]

[img]https://preview.ibb.co/msjwF7/Ex2.png[/img]

[img]https://preview.ibb.co/msVE2n/Ex3.png[/img]

[img]https://preview.ibb.co/mYhGF7/Ex4.png[/img][/quote]
(apologies for poor scan quality)

[quote]Also, it's worth noting that [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Chamber]James Damore[/url] has [url=https://beta.techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/james-damore-just-filed-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-google-saying-it-discriminates-against-white-male-conservatives/][I]also[/I][/url] filed a Lawsuit against Google for similar reasons to Wilberg. This is after he withdrew the memo shortly before the National Labour Relations Board found [url=https://gizmodo.com/labor-board-found-google-was-within-its-rights-to-fire-1823086744]his firing by Google[/url] legal.

the James Damore v. Google lawsuit can be read [url=https://www.scribd.com/document/368688363/James-Damore-vs-Google-Class-Action-Lawsuit]here[/url][/quote]

[Trekintosh]

Racial quotas in hiring are disgusting. Being passed over despite being qualified because you're not "diverse" enough fucking sucks.

[Steel]

[quote]We have a clear policy to hire candidates based on their merit, not their identity,[/quote]

[quote]we unapologetically try to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates for open roles, as this helps us hire the best people, improve our culture, and build better products.[/quote]

Maybe I'm thinking too simply here, but I don't think you can have both?

[Darth-Veger]

Trying to be racially diverse by excluding certain races.

What kind of logic does Google have.
They are really trying really fucking hard to be diverse but it just backfires right back into their face.

[Thomas45]

As a white male it hurts to think that I could be qualified for something but passed up because of what I look like. BUT, I do understand why this is, minorities for decades were passed up because of what they looked like and thus don't make up the proporition of the work force in some industiries that they really should be entitled to. It sucks that this happens but it sucks that it happened to them and it has to be corrected somehow.

[Zethin]

You’d be thoroughly surprised at how prominent racial hiring quotas are. Or quotas in general. There always has to be some arbitrary balance that hiring managers have to meet.

Too many Males and not enough Females
Too many Whites and not enough Asians
Too many ESTJs and not enough INFPs

There’s so many bullshit quotas that exist that I’m surprised a lawsuit for equal opportunity employment hasn’t appeared sooner

[capybarracuda]

[QUOTE=Thom12255;53172031]As a white male it hurts to think that I could be qualified for something but passed up because of what I look like. BUT, I do understand why this is, minorities for decades were passed up because of what they looked like and thus don't make up the proporition of the work force in some industiries that they really should be entitled to. It sucks that this happens but it sucks that it happened to them and it has to be corrected somehow.[/QUOTE]

I mean, it's not like you can just blame current white people on past white people's mistakes, and use that as justification for discrimination against them now.

[ARitz Cracker]

I wonder if any recent decisions and/or design changes was the result of this "diversity" quota :thinking:

[Narry]

[QUOTE=WitheredGryphon;53172036]You’d be thoroughly surprised at how prominent racial hiring quotas are. Or quotas in general. There always has to be some arbitrary balance that hiring managers have to meet.

Too many Males and not enough Females
Too many Whites and not enough Asians
Too many ESTJs and not enough INFPs

There’s so many bullshit quotas that exist that I’m surprised a lawsuit for equal opportunity employment hasn’t appeared sooner[/QUOTE]

The moment you try and bring light of this your reputation gets smeared and you get labelled as a radical alt-right because you're clearly a racist. The people doing it tend to feel that it's not discriminatory to discriminate as long as they're discriminating in favor of under-represented classes. It's not discrimination, it's "equal opportunity but because they're disadvantaged they get a handicap".

It's a massive issue and there's no good way to talk about it because people just yell. It also doesn't help that it's super easy to take arguments from actual racists and use it to dismiss the discussion.

I'm all for diversifying tech, but this isn't the way to go about it. If you're hiring someone, hire them based on their skills. If you promote diversity in the learning environment, you'll end up with more diversity in the workforce. You wont have to pick and choose based on race to fill your quota, rather you'll be able to find qualified people from many different backgrounds and you can hire whoever you feel is best for the position without arbitrarily excluding people.

[snookypookums]

I wish blind hiring became a bigger thing when I read stories like this - being discriminated against for something absolutely out of your control sucks. :frown:

[Boozy&Bitter]

Being the only member of a minority in a workplace can suck.

Imagine how you feel about someone when you find out they're really into gaming, or god forbid played Garrysmod growing up. They understand what you like, and maybe even some of the experiences you've been through, maybe they even spent way too much time playing games instead of being social so they understand your awkwardness.
Or maybe you have military service in common, or similar traumatic experiences, or similar job struggles.

Now imagine that same feeling, but applying to almost every aspect of your life until you die. The feeling of belonging you can have to your workplace is so much stronger than common workplace struggles.

[kahgarak]

Diversity through exclusion of races = racism.

[Bertie]

[QUOTE=Rubs10;53172070]Being the only member of a minority in a workplace can suck.

Imagine how you feel about someone when you find out they're really into gaming, or god forbid played Garrysmod growing up. They understand what you like, and maybe even some of the experiences you've been through, maybe they even spent way too much time playing games instead of being social so they understand your awkwardness.
Or maybe you have military service in common, or similar traumatic experiences, or similar job struggles.

Now imagine that same feeling, but applying to almost every aspect of your life until you die. The feeling of belonging you can have to your workplace is so much stronger than common workplace struggles.[/QUOTE]

That's understandable and all but is it supposed to justify actual racial and sexual discrimination?

[fpro]

This falls in the same category as racism itself imo

[HumanAbyss]

[QUOTE=Rubs10;53172070]Being the only member of a minority in a workplace can suck.

Imagine how you feel about someone when you find out they're really into gaming, or god forbid played Garrysmod growing up. They understand what you like, and maybe even some of the experiences you've been through, maybe they even spent way too much time playing games instead of being social so they understand your awkwardness.
Or maybe you have military service in common, or similar traumatic experiences, or similar job struggles.

Now imagine that same feeling, but applying to almost every aspect of your life until you die. The feeling of belonging you can have to your workplace is so much stronger than common workplace struggles.[/QUOTE]

White guys who pretty much constantly feels like an outsider are not out of the norm either

Seems kinda dumb to act like that can't happen for them

[Rahu X]

Of course, some people are already screaming from the rooftops that they support this and that anyone who doesn't is "afraid" of diversity or is a racist. Some even very much towing the line themselves by saying "this is a good thing because there's too many White and Asian males in the tech industry..."

Also most of the people saying this are White, so...

Really though, I don't see why you shouldn't just hire based on merit alone. Leave race and sex/gender out of it. Hire the person because they're the best qualified for the job, not because their qualifications are merely ok but they happen to be a Black girl and that fits some bullshit quota. Maybe hire that Black girl on for a position that's similar and something more akin to her qualifications so she can learn and become better suited for the original role she was applying for, if the quota is so important to you.

[Anteep]

doesn't that go against employment laws?

in the uk any company found to discriminate based on race will be in a LOT of trouble

[snookypookums]

[QUOTE=Rahu X;53172128]Of course, some people are already screaming from the rooftops that they support this and that anyone who doesn't is "afraid" of diversity or is a racist. Some even very much towing the line themselves by saying "this is a good thing because there's too many White and Asian males in the tech industry..."

Also most of the people saying this are White, so...

Really though, I don't see why you shouldn't just hire based on merit alone. Leave race and sex/gender out of it. Hire the person because they're the best qualified for the job, not because their qualifications are merely ok but they happen to be a Black girl and that fits some bullshit quota. Maybe hire that Black girl on for a position that's similar and something more akin to her qualifications so she can learn and become better suited for the original role she was applying for, if the quota is so important to you.[/QUOTE]

Most people conveniently don't like to do that by using some bullshit excuse of whether they think that the candidate will 'fit into the company culture'. That nebulous excuse is what a lot of them used to discriminate against people with - especially if the person has an accent not deemed sexy/awesome or is clearly from another country.

I really hate that 'not sure if you'd fit the company culture' excuse, because it's just veiled clique-ism.

[GameWalrus]

Pretty sure this is illegal, equal opportunity act prohibits based on race and a bunch of other things.

[Funky Mummy]

Companies like google are so hilariously racist that I can't even wrap my head around it anymore. As someone who isn't white, if I were to find out that I was given a job because the company went "Gee, we need more of them brownies" I would be livid. I will not be a part of their quota filling. I want to be hired because I'm the best, not because companies feel sorry for me. This entire grand illusion that anyone who isn't white has grown up dirt poor and needs all the help they can get is fucking stupid. If we can switch to tumblr mode for a second I can say that growing up in Sweden I was far more "privileged" than all of my friends who are native Swedes. There are brown people who need help, there are white people who need help, we are individuals with differing situations. But I guess it is okay to generalize when it suits them.

[Zethin]

As was mentioned, there’s a lot that goes into it. First it’s fucking [b]hard[/b] to prove you weren’t hired based on something like this. You’d have to end up in a situation where you know 100% that you were better qualified in every single way over every single applicant. Any discrepancy can be used against you as a reason to not hire you which makes using these quotas so much easier.

When applying for jobs in the current market it isn’t really Equal Opportunity. It’s “Equal Opportunity with preference to minorities”

[Funky Mummy]

[QUOTE=Rubs10;53172070]Being the only member of a minority in a workplace can suck.

Imagine how you feel about someone when you find out they're really into gaming, or god forbid played Garrysmod growing up. They understand what you like, and maybe even some of the experiences you've been through, maybe they even spent way too much time playing games instead of being social so they understand your awkwardness.
Or maybe you have military service in common, or similar traumatic experiences, or similar job struggles.

Now imagine that same feeling, but applying to almost every aspect of your life until you die. The feeling of belonging you can have to your workplace is so much stronger than common workplace struggles.[/QUOTE]

I'm brown, not an alien.

Speaking for myself here, and others may have had drastically different experiences but when my parents moved to a suburban "white" part of the city that we lived in, I was literally the only brown kid in my class and maybe even the entire school at the time. My classmates admitted that they thought I was a teacher at first or something. (The mustache probably didn't help.) I'm born and raised in Sweden and I had no trouble fitting in with my classmates and while the experience may be different for someone who had spent a significant portion of their life somewhere else that shouldn't change much. (Depending on where they are from) Believe it or not, computers exist in the middle east, people play videogames, and yes even Garry's Mod.

[GefJeff]

[QUOTE=Anteep;53172132]doesn't that go against employment laws?

in the uk any company found to discriminate based on race will be in a LOT of trouble[/QUOTE]

In Canada we have the Employment Equity Act which has been[url=https://economics.ca//cgi/jab?journal=cpp&article=v27n1p0053] argued [/url]by some to be "positive discrimination" akin to Googles hiring practices:

[quote]The purpose of the EEA is to ensure that no person is denied employment opportunities and benefits for reasons unrelated to ability. It requires employers to correct disadvantages in the workplace experienced by members of the four designated groups:

women;
Aboriginal peoples;
persons with disabilities; and
visible minorities.

In addition, employers must implement the principle that employment equity means more than treating people in the same way; it also requires special measures and the accommodation of differences.[/quote]

[quote]The Act requires that employers identify and eliminate employment barriers for designated group members that result from the employer’s employment systems, policies and practices. The goal is to institute positive policies and practices and make reasonable accommodations so that the representation of persons in designated groups in the employer’s workforce reflects their representation in the Canadian workforce.[/quote]

[url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003006/http://www.chrc-ccdp.ca/publications/ee_faq_ee-en.asp]Source[/url]

While I personally don't necessarily agree with this critque, some argue that the Employment Equity Act can be misused to favour un (or under) qualified applicants to boost diversity.

Also, it's worth noting that [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google%27s_Ideological_Echo_Chamber]James Damore[/url] has [url=https://beta.techcrunch.com/2018/01/08/james-damore-just-filed-a-class-action-lawsuit-against-google-saying-it-discriminates-against-white-male-conservatives/][I]also[/I][/url] filed a Lawsuit against Google for similar reasons to Wilberg. This is after he withdrew the memo shortly before the National Labour Relations Board found [url=https://gizmodo.com/labor-board-found-google-was-within-its-rights-to-fire-1823086744]his firing by Google[/url] legal.

the James Damore v. Google lawsuit can be read [url=https://www.scribd.com/document/368688363/James-Damore-vs-Google-Class-Action-Lawsuit]here[/url]

I'll add this to the OP, as it's somewhat related to the story at hand

[Adarrek]

"Improve our culture"

What fucking culture? A racist culture where meeting some dumb ass diversity quota is more important than everything else?

[Protocol7]

[QUOTE=Adarrek;53172239]"Improve our culture"

What fucking culture? A racist culture where meeting some dumb ass diversity quota is more important than everything else?[/QUOTE]

Not to mention that hiring people of color to "improve our culture" is in and of itself horribly fucking racist. Who's to say someone with dark skin will provide any more change to the culture, positive or negative, than someone with light skin? Have people at Google not met with normal black people or something?

[Hollywood SN]

Do none of the people who do this kind of bullshit understand the inherent hypocrisy of claiming to be against racism but then being overtly racist.

How hard is it to just not give a shit what people look like.

[GefJeff]

[QUOTE=AaronM202;53172266]Do none of the people who do this kind of bullshit understand the inherent hypocrisy of claiming to be against racism but then being overtly racist.

How hard is it to just not give a shit what people look like.[/QUOTE]

[url=https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/kwzjvz/dear-white-people-please-stop-pretending-reverse-racism-is-real]Reverse [/url][url=http://www.raceandhistory.com/selfnews/viewnews.cgi?newsid1024893033,80611,.shtml]racism [/url][url=https://www.theodysseyonline.com/believe-reverse-racism-neither]doesn't [/url][url=https://www.vox.com/2016/6/29/12045772/reverse-racism-affirmative-action]exist[/url]

[JoeJohns]

I mean I can kind of understand the white thing but wtf why Asians
Like they are actually certifiably a minority...

[ferrous]

[QUOTE=Clovernoodle;53172283]I mean I can kind of understand the white thing but wtf why Asians
Like they are actually certifiably a minority...[/QUOTE]

Not in tech jobs in [at least some parts of] the States.

[t]https://www.mercurynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/20121129_085902_ssjm1130workforce90.jpg?w=473[/t]

[Electrocuter]

In their attempt to be diverse they end up being racist fucks, seriously, how is not hiring someone because they're white any less racist than not hiring someone because they're black, you're hiring someone based on their skin colour.