Apparently he wants to get on that $100K/speech wingnut welfare rubber chicken circuit, showing up at Young Republicans conkkklaves at universities and public rallies calling for white pride and giving speeches about how the white man is oppressed, oppressed I say, oppressed by The Man. But to do that, he has to raise his profile. Like, for example, by actually filing a lawsuit against Google:
There’s one problem with this: California is an “at will” employment state. You have no right to a job in California. You can be fired for any reason in California other than for membership in a protected class enumerated in law. And “conservative asshole” isn’t a protected class in any law of the country.
In short, Google would have been in the right for firing him because they didn’t like his hairstyle or his shoes, because California requires no cause for firing — you can be fired for any reason, no matter how stupid, as long as it’s not because of your sexual orientation, sex, race, or religion, or the special case of “whistleblower” (which requires reporting illegal conduct to the government). Damore claims he was fired for being white or male, but chances of him proving that via discovery are virtually nil. There will be no smoking gun saying “let’s fire this guy because he’s white!”. No, the only smoking gun they’ll find is “let’s fire this guy because his opinions are an embarrassment to our company!”. Which is an entirely legal thing to do in the state of California, because employment here is a private contractual relationship between employer and employee that can be terminated by either side. The Governor Reagan era employment laws in California were written in an era where having Big Government telling a private company who they must employ or not employ would have been considered Communism and thus evil, thus basically your only remedy if you’re fired is to get another job.
But hey, this isn’t actually a real lawsuit anyhow, it’s just to raise Damore’s profile on the wingnut welfare circuit, so it doesn’t matter that a judge will take one look at that and bang “Dismissed” upon receiving Google’s “motion to dismiss for lack of cause”. That’ll give Damore just one more talking point about how he’s being oppressed, oppressed I say, by Big Liberal Meanies. I just find it amusing that Damore is whining about being fired for his opinions, when it’s perfectly legal to do so outside of a union contract or a socialist country. Amazing how Damore hates unions and socialism — both of which probably would have kept him in his cushy job at Google. Talk about reaping what you sow!
Once again, James Damore: Right wing asshole is not a protected class under California law, thus Google can decide they don’t like you so they won’t employ you. It’s called FREEDOM. Google has it. Why do you hate FREEDOM, James Damore? Oh wait, because hating FREEDOM gets you those cushy wingnut welfare speaking gigs. Alrighty, then!
– Badtux the Snarky Penguin
Down Undahere (and apparently in other countries that function under the British Imperial legal system’s template) the loser of a lawsuit can be made to pay the winner’s legal fees. It cuts waaaaaaaaay down on the number of frivolous lawsuits, because who wants to be stuck with a big bill for their bullshit. Solicitors are hesitant to take bogus cases because of the prospect of being left on the hook for time they spent litigating on behalf of idiots who are never gonna pay.
Litigious patients frequently threaten “I’m going to sue the hospital!” when they’re upset that they’ve been locked up against their insaniac will. Not as often as people say it in the United States, but frequently enough. I tell them (calmly) “Do what you think you’ve got to do, but you might have a hard time finding a lawyer to take your case, because the hospital is operating within the parameters of the law, and no solicitor is going to go to court if they think they’ll be paying for the hospital’s barrister when the judge tosses the case as unsubstantiated.”
For malicious or frivolous lawsuits a U.S. court can award attorney’s fees to the defense. Whether that happens here depends upon just how frivolous Damore’s case turns out to be. My guess is that Damore’s lawyer is being paid by a Koch-backed proxy group and doesn’t care.
From what I understand about the local legal system (only knowledge I’ve gained is by reading news stories, since I’ve never been involved in a lawsuit here) it’s pretty much automatic that loser pays. Not just left to an angry judge’s inclination. It makes me wonder about the tradeoff between reducing court clutter vs. thwarting long-shot attempts to seek justice.
Yeah, that is the problem with “loser pays”, lawyers become reluctant to take on cases where there’s a reasonable chance of winning but not a slam dunk chance. And there’s more chance for injustice to thrive.
On the other hand, the U.S. system has become so expensive that death by lawsuit can do in even news magazines that are protected by the 1st Amendment, so I think it’s a wash….
But, I would like him to waste his time and money, on trying to become a protected class. The kbros need to adopt him.