Update on an employee matter

On Friday, January 8th, GitHub separated with an employee. Later that day and over the weekend, employees raised concerns about the circumstances of the separation. We took these concerns seriously. On Monday, January 11th, we engaged an outside investigator to conduct an independent investigation. On the evening of Friday, January 15th, the investigation revealed significant errors of judgment and procedure. Our head of HR has taken personal accountability and resigned from GitHub yesterday morning, Saturday, January 16th.

In light of these findings, we immediately reversed the decision to separate with the employee and are in communication with his representative.

To the employee we wish to say publicly: we sincerely apologize.

Finally, there are several statements that our CEO Nat Friedman and I shared with our employees on Sunday, January 10th and Monday, January 11th last week, and which we also shared with the press earlier this week, that we wish to repeat again now:

• It was appalling last week to watch a violent mob, including Nazis and white supremacists, attack the US Capitol. That these hateful ideologies were able to reach the sacred seat of our democratic republic in 2021 is sickening. The views that propelled this attack are morally abhorrent to me personally, and, I know, to our entire leadership team and company.
• GitHub condemns the attack on the US Capitol on January 6th and any and all belief systems that are discriminatory. Antisemitism, neo-Nazis, and white supremacy – along with all other forms of racism – are vile and have no place in our community.
• We do not and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, or retaliation in any of its forms, period.
• Employees are free to express concerns about Nazis, antisemitism, white supremacy or any other form of discrimination or harassment in internal discussions. We expect all employees to be respectful, professional, and follow GitHub policies on discrimination and harassment.

We are, and will continue to be, fiercely committed to providing both our employees and our community with a safe, inclusive, and welcoming environment.

Written by

Erica Brescia

@ebrescia