Cisco has fired “a handful” of workers for racially divisive comments posted online during an online diversity forum, according to a Bloomberg report.
The workers posted comments through message channels over a series of “all-hands” virtual meetings held in June. The first videoconference included Cisco’s CEO Chuck Robbins speaking with Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, who is Black, and Bryan Stevenson, a Black lawyer and author who founded the Equal Justice Initiative, in front of 30,000 globally.
Cisco, one of the world’s largest network company headquartered in Silicon Valley, determined the comments to be inappropriate and fired an unspecified number of employees, the report said.
According to screen shots obtained by Bloomberg, comments included: “Black lives don’t matter. All lives matter,” wrote one worker. Another said the phrase Black Lives Matter “reinforces racism” because it singles out one ethnic group. “People who complain about racism probably have been a racist somewhere else to people from another race or part of systematic oppression in their own community!” a third worker wrote in the chat section visible for all those online.
Cisco operates one of its largest corporate campuses in Research Triangle Park, employing several thousand people.
Bloomberg News wasn’t able to confirm the identities of all the fired workers so chose not to name any of them.
In June, Robbins, a UNC-Chapel Hill graduate, laid out a new agenda for the technology giant after the recent deaths of black Americans at the hands of police, including North Carolina native George Floyd.
“We know our responsibilities don’t end with technology. It’s now about making the world we envision possible. Over the past six months, we came to the conclusion that our new purpose is to Power an Inclusive Future for All,” Robbins wrote.
It comes at a time when Cisco is still working out other issues regarding race and gender.
In July, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed a lawsuit against Cisco and two of its engineers in July, saying the engineers discriminated against another worker for being a member of a low-ranking Hindu caste, reported the Silicon Valley Business Journal.
And in March, Cisco paid $4.75 million to resolve a claim by the U.S. Department of Labor that it had paid white and male employees more than women, black and Latino employees in similar roles.
According to the Labor Department, Cisco would pay $2 million in lost wages and interest to 1,505 affected employees at its San Jose headquarters, and offer at least $2.75 million in pay equity adjustments to employees nationwide over the next five years.
