Trump supporters stand in the armored vehicle of the U.S. Capitol Police while others take the stairs of the Capitol on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, while Congress works to certify the votes of the election university.
Bill Clark | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
GitHub, owned by Microsoft, the code-sharing site for software developers, said Sunday that the company’s chief human resources resigned after an investigation into the dismissal by a Jewish employee of the company found “Significant errors of judgment and procedure.”
On January 8, GitHub fired one of its employees after expressing concern about colleagues in Washington DC as a crowd of protesters supporting President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. The fired employee told TechCrunch in an interview posted Friday that he made a comment to Slack saying, “Stay safe, there are Nazis.”
GitHub employees expressed concern that the company fired the employee immediately afterwards, according to a statement from chief operating officer Erica Brescia. After an independent investigation, the company found “significant errors of judgment and procedure” relating to the dismissal of the employee, Brescia said.
“Our HR chief has taken on personal responsibilities and resigned from GitHub yesterday morning, Saturday 16 January,” Brescia said on Sunday in a blog post. The company did not reveal the name of the head of human resources who resigned, but Carrie Olesen has taken first place.
A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a Confederate battle flag on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol near the Senate entrance after failing to defend security defenses in Washington on January 6, 2021.
Mike Theiler | Reuters
A company spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Brescia said GitHub “immediately reversed” its decision to split with the employee “and that it is in communication with its representative.”
“We want to say publicly to the employee: we sincerely apologize,” Brescia said.
The company’s CEO, Nat Friedman, acknowledged in office that the violent crowd included “Nazis and white supremacists.”
On Wednesday, FBI spokeswoman Christina Pullen said in a statement that a man who was photographed during the riot wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” T-shirt was arrested, NBC News reported. A riot photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag in the Capitol halls was also arrested the next day.
“Employees are free to express concerns about Nazism, anti-Semitism, white supremacy or any other form of discrimination or harassment in internal discussions,” Friedman said in a statement.