Google has been slapped with a lawsuit by a former recruiter who alleges the Internet giant fired him for complaining about hiring practices to boost diversity that he says discriminated against white and Asian men.

A former YouTube employee has sued Google for allegedly pressuring recruiters to only look for female, black, and Hispanic or Latinx applicants. Arne Wilberg — who spent nine years working at Google — filed a discrimination suit in January, and The Wall Street Journal reported its existence today. Wilberg claims that Google implemented “clear and irrefutable policies” meant to exclude white and Asian men in an attempt to increase the company’s overall diversity. He also claims that Google retaliated against him for opposing these policies, eventually firing him in November 2017.

Filed in San Mateo County Superior Court in January by Arne Wilberg, who worked as a recruiter for YouTube, the suit alleges parent company Google set quotas for hiring underrepresented minorities.

Wilberg also alleges that management deleted emails and other records of diversity requirements.

It claims that for several quarters, Google would only hire people from historically underrepresented groups for technical positions.

Facing pressure to diversity its workforce, Google began publicly sharing data on the racial and gender make-up of its ranks in 2014.

Damore was fired last year for distributing a memo that argued Google’s efforts to increased diversity were misguided, in part, because of the biological differences between men and women.

Some Google employees who advocate for diversity allege the company is not doing enough to protect them from a harassment campaign by their co-workers following Damore’s firing that has subjected them to hateful comments and violent threats — and one former employee has sued for pushing back against racism and sexism. Google also has been targeted by a lawsuit and a Department of Labor investigation into whether it underpays women.

 

Google told The Wall Street Journal that “we have a clear policy to hire candidates based on their merit, not their identity. … At the same time, we unapologetically try to find a diverse pool of qualified candidates for open roles, as this helps us hire the best people, improve our culture, and build better products.” However, the Journal cites anonymous sources that corroborate some of Wilberg’s claims.