Labor points at GitHub, Fb’s new civil rights exec and a authorized battle in opposition to Prop 22 – TechCrunch

This week began with a report from a GitHub worker who was laid off after warning his DC area workers about being safe from Nazis during the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, Facebook has created a new leadership role on civil rights, and California’s Proposition 22 faced its first legal challenge this year.

All of that and more in this week’s edition of Human Capital.

Facebook hires VP of Civil Rights

Facebook discontinued Roy Austin becomes his first vice president of civil rights and assistant general counsel to help build a new civil rights organization within the company. Austin is scheduled to launch on January 19th and will be based in Washington, DC.

Austin most recently served as a civil rights attorney with Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP. Austin previously co-authored a report on Big Data and Civil Rights and worked with President Barack Obama’s Task Force on Policing in the 21st Century.

Prop 22 is facing a lawsuit against its constitutionality

A group of California ridesharing drivers and the Service Employees International Union filed a lawsuit Claims that Proposition 22 is against the California Constitution. The aim of the lawsuit is to overthrow Prop 22, which classifies gig workers as independent contractors in California.

The lawsuit, which was filed in the California Supreme Court, argues that Prop 22 makes it difficult for state lawmakers to create and enforce an employee compensation system for gig workers. It is also argued that Prop 22 breaks the rule that restricts electoral action to a single issue and unconstitutionally defines what would be considered a change in action. As of today, Prop 22 requires a legislative majority of seven eighths to change the measure.

The best tech companies to work for, according to Glassdoor

Glassdoor approved its annual ranking of the The best companies to work for in 2021. We have selected the top 10 technology companies from the list of large companies (over 1,000 employees) and from the list of small and medium-sized companies.

Despite recent allegations from Misses and Requirements for better working conditionsGoogle ranked third on the list of the best tech companies, while Facebook ranked fifth.

Netflix publishes the first diversity report

This wasn’t the first time Netflix had shared this type of data, but the company had only taken its bow now.

Globally, women make up 47.1% of the Netflix workforce. Since 2017, the representation of white and Asian workers has slowly declined, while representation of Hispanic or Latin American, black, mixed races, and indigenous people has increased. In the US, Netflix is ​​8.1% Hispanic or Latin American, 8% black, and 5.1% white-collar workers. 1.3% of the workforce are either Indians, Alaskans, Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and / or from the Middle East or North Africa.

Github faces a backlash after firing a Jewish employee who made a comment on the Nazis

On the day a violent crowd of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, a concerned GitHub employee warned employees in the DC area to be safe. In an interview with TechCrunch, the now former employee said he was seriously concerned about his employees in the area, in addition to his Jewish family members.

TechCrunch agreed to keep the terminated employee’s identity confidential for fear of the safety of his and her family.

After posting a comment on Slack saying, “Stay safe, homies, Nazis are around,” an employee took offense and said that this kind of rhetoric was not good for work, he told me Former Employees. He was fired two days later and a human resources representative cited “behavior that is not conducive to corporate policy” as the reason for his termination.

Now the resigned employee says he is currently seeking a lawyer to make sure his family is protected and to see if he can get compensation or some other form of reconciliation. The laid-off employee said GitHub has asked him for help with the internal investigation but is waiting to contact the company until he has legal representation.

You can read it whole story here.

Dropbox is laying off 315 people

Dropbox laid off 11% of its global workforce, the equivalent of 315 people affected. In an email to the employeesDrew Houston, CEO, said the company just doesn’t need that much office support because of the move to remote working. “We are reducing this investment and redeploying these resources to drive our ambitious product roadmap

In the note, Houston said the changes will make Dropbox more efficient and nimble this year.

Apple launches programs for racial justice and justice

Apple revealed some key projects as part of his $ 100 million commitment to racial justice and justice.

The first is a $ 25 million investment in the Drive center, an innovation and learning center for HBCUS. As part of the investment in the Propel Center, Apple employees will help develop the curriculum and offer mentoring to students.

In Detroit, Apple, in partnership with Michigan State University, will open a developer academy for young black entrepreneurs. Overall, Apple hopes to reach 1,000 students a year in Detroit.

In addition, Apple invested $ 10 million in VC firm Harlem Capital, $ 25 million in Siebert Williams Shank’s Clear Vision Impact Fund, and donated an undisclosed amount to the King Center.

Amazon warehouse workers are due to vote on the union starting next month

The National Labor Relations Board has planned A mail-in voting process for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama begins February 8th and ends March 29th. The facility’s staff decide whether or not to join the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union. The negotiation unit includes approximately 6,000 workers, including full-time and regular part-time hourly workers, as well as hundreds of seasonal workers from Amazon and others.