The world of free software and open source does not escape the general reality. Human beings are the same everywhere and their interaction always generates the same conflicts. In general, the Linux blogsphere does not usually echo, unless it involves well-known characters, but we have our percentage of complaints of harassment and discrimination.
In this case, a former employee sues SUSE for discrimination.
This is not just any complaint, after IBM bought Red Hat, SUSE Software Solutions Germany GmbH. is the world's largest independent Linux company. Also It is a German company and the complaint is for discrimination against the Jewish religion.
It is true that today the company has another owner and another person as CEO, buthe complainant maintains that the current authorities do nothing to change the situation.
The complaint against SUSE
Whoever makes the complaint is Bryan Lunduke a former SUSE employee. According to his own words, this was his role within the company:
In the year 2013, I joined SUSE, specifically the marketing team.
During my time working for SUSE (the oldest Linux company in the world), I was without a doubt the most publicly visible person within the company.
Not only did I bring a sizable audience with me when I joined the company, but later: I was elected to the openSUSE board, represented SUSE at conferences (and in interviews) across the country, and created some of the most successful advertising campaigns in SUSE history. (and Linux). my name and my personal brand became closely linked to SUSE. He was widely regarded as the go-to person for all things SUSE marketing having to do with Linux.
One of the things that Bryan and his team did was spread Linux with messages alluding to holidays, can still be seen in SUSE's blog a poster titled "How Linux Saved Christmas."
Being of the Jewish religion himself, Lunduke noticed that they had never published any message related to their festivities, that is why in 2015 he made a publication of Happy Hanukkah! that appeared on the company's social networks.
Hanukkah is celebrated, depending on the conversion between the Hebrew and the Gregorian lunar calendar) between the end of November and the beginning of December) and commemorates that, during the purification of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the lamp that illuminated it kept lighting for eight days when I only had oil for one.
The complainant says that he immediately received instructions from the head of marketing (some positions above the hierarchy) to remove that publicationn, making it clear to her specifically that she should drop all the others. To show that they had nothing against the rest of the parties, an email was immediately sent to all the staff inviting all employees to sing Christmas carols in the office.
company attitude
Bryan Lunduke says that following hierarchical channels he raised his concern with his immediate superior who passed it on up the chain of command. His superior was fired and so was his replacement for the same reason. What happened to the head of marketing? He was promoted.
As for Bryan himself, he says, he was reprimanded, removed from the team, and denied a pay raise. In any case, he kept insisting until he reached the top executive and managed to get an investigation started. The result of this was that there was no discrimination.
But, the complaints do not end there.
Bryan, as head of social media and the company's main spokesperson, had to be at SUSECON, the company's annual conference. For some reason someone decided to schedule it in the week between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (The two most important holidays of the Jewish people (*)). The closure was precisely on Yom Kippur day, which is specifically a non-working day.
Finally, after what he describes as intimidation, the executive left the company and remained silent until 2022. when the firm already had a new president and a new owner.
After the new CEO was appointed, I reached out to her. In a polite way, I let him know that I had been forced to leave the company after discrimination against Jews (and a policy of prohibiting public speaking of Jews). And that he wanted her to be aware of past problems so she could make sure they didn't happen to others in the future.
The new CEO of SUSE responded by blocking me on Twitter.
The complainant claims to have knowledge from current employees that discriminatory practices continue.
It is not within the reach of a simple blogger to determine the veracity of what has been reported. I can simply spread the word so that what really happened is fully clarified.
*Any correction about inaccuracies in the references to the celebrations of the Jewish religion is welcome.