California has very strong employee protection. Yes, even though it is "at will" there are still some very strong protections.
For example, in California it is illegal to fire someone for "political activity", which this memo, debateably, may have been.
It is also illegal in California to fire someone for bringing up workplace concerns (this falls under union/worker organizing laws).
Finally, and most ironically, it is illegal to fire someone for bringing up discrimination concerns, EVEN IF those concerns turn out to be false/not illegal/not discrimination.
This guy, debateably, was bringing up discrimination concerns.
Read footnote 6. That to me, is a pretty smoking gun of a comment.
"6 Instead set Googlegeist OKRs, potentially for certain demographics. We can increase representation at an org level by either making it a better environment for certain groups (which would be seen in survey scores) or discriminating based on a protected status (which is illegal and I’ve seen it done). Increased representation OKRs can incentivize the latter and create zero-sum struggles between orgs"
....discriminating based on a protected status (which is illegal and I’ve seen it done)....
Is it debateable? It's a political document that starts by characterising differences between the political left and right. It states that Google's policies are explicitly discrimination, and not only illegal but motivated by "left ideology".
How it could be more political or about discrimination concerns?
For example, in California it is illegal to fire someone for "political activity", which this memo, debateably, may have been.
It is also illegal in California to fire someone for bringing up workplace concerns (this falls under union/worker organizing laws).
Finally, and most ironically, it is illegal to fire someone for bringing up discrimination concerns, EVEN IF those concerns turn out to be false/not illegal/not discrimination.
This guy, debateably, was bringing up discrimination concerns.