In the long human struggle to reconcile conscience with commerce, a group of tech workers at Cisco found themselves caught between their employer's military contracts and their own moral convictions — and paid a price for speaking. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that Cisco may have violated the civil rights of its Muslim and Arab employees, finding that internal platforms became venues for harassment after more than 1,700 workers signed a letter opposing the company's technology sales to the Israeli military. The finding marks a rare moment in which a governmen
EEOC Finds Cisco May Have Violated Rights of Muslim, Arab Employees
Cisco employees faced harassment, hate comments, and at least one employee was terminated for involvement in pro-Palestine activism.
Workers should not fear retaliation for speaking out about Palestine
Mark
So the EEOC found that Cisco created a hostile workplace. What exactly triggered that finding—was it the harassment itself, or something about how the company responded?
Mimi
Both, really. The harassment came after employees organized against Cisco selling technology to the Israeli military. Over 1,700 signed an open letter. When Cisco removed that letter and put it under review, the harassment started—hate comments on internal platforms. But what seems to have pushed the EEOC to act was that Cisco didn't respond to complaints until employees compiled a 76-page report documenting the hate.
Luke
So we know the EEOC found a violation, but do we know what Cisco actually did in response to the complaints before the report? The source says they didn't respond "until" the report was created—but that's one employee's characterization. We don't have Cisco's account of their timeline.
Mark
The report itself—what kind of comments are we talking about? Are these isolated incidents or a pattern?
Mimi
It was a pattern. The 76-page document showed waves of hate comments in a group called the Connected Jewish Network. One employee said they were "extremely grateful" that Israeli passersby had killed Palestinians. There were jokes about sending people to their deaths, comparisons of Palestinians to animals, labeling Arabs and Muslims as terrorists.
Luke
And that group—the Connected Jewish Network—was it a closed group? Who had access? Because that matters for whether Cisco should have known about it and when.
Mark
The EEOC also found that someone was fired for pro-Palestine activism. That's a pretty direct retaliation claim.
Mimi
Yes. The determination said Cisco terminated at least one unnamed employee for her involvement in pro-Palestine efforts. That's the clearest violation—not just the hostile environment, but actual termination tied to the activism.
Luke
But we only know about one termination. The source doesn't say whether there were others, or whether other employees faced discipline short of termination. That's a gap.
Mark
What happens now? Does the EEOC determination force Cisco to do something?
Mimi
That's the frustrating part. The EEOC made the determination in June, but according to The Guardian, mediation between the agency and Cisco has "not gone anywhere." Legal Aid at Work has also filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board and the California Labor Commissioner, but those are still pending.
Luke
So the determination exists, but there's no enforcement mechanism yet. We don't know if Cisco will face penalties, be required to change policies, or what. The story is still unfolding.
O Pulso
- Over 1,700 Cisco employees signed an open letter opposing the company's tech sales to the Israeli military — and many were met not with dialogue, but with dehumanizing harassment on internal platforms.
- Internal messages compared Palestinians and dissenting employees to animals, glorified violence, and told one worker to 'quit living' — a documented pattern Cisco ignored until employees compiled a 76-page report.
- The EEOC determined Cisco created a hostile work environment and retaliated against at least one employee by terminating her for pro-Palestine activism — a first-of-its-kind government finding in the tech sector.
- Civil rights groups called the ruling a meaningful step toward accountability, noting it affirms that federal protections extend to Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian employees who speak out on political matters.
- Despite the EEOC finding, mediation between the agency and Cisco has stalled, and additional complaints filed with the NLRB and California Labor Commissioner remain unresolved.
In the long human struggle to reconcile conscience with commerce, a group of tech workers at Cisco found themselves caught between their employer's military contracts and their own moral convictions — and paid a price for speaking. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has determined that Cisco may have violated the civil rights of its Muslim and Arab employees, finding that internal platforms became venues for harassment after more than 1,700 workers signed a letter opposing the company's technology sales to the Israeli military. The finding marks a rare moment in which a government body has formally acknowledged the vulnerability of employees who organize collectively against their employer's role in armed conflict. Yet acknowledgment, as history often reminds us, is not yet remedy.
In June, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a determination that Cisco may have violated the civil rights of its Muslim and Arab employees — a finding rooted in what happened after workers began organizing against the company's technology sales to the Israeli military.
The trouble began when a group calling itself Bridge to Humanity circulated an open letter urging Cisco to stop providing technology to the Israeli government. More than 1,700 of the company's roughly 86,000 employees signed it. After Cisco removed the letter from an internal site, many signatories reported harassment. One was told to 'quit living.' The company took no action until employees compiled a 76-page report documenting hateful posts from an internal messaging group — posts that glorified violence, compared Palestinians to animals, and labeled Arabs and Muslims as terrorists. The report also noted that Jewish employees who disagreed with these sentiments found no safe space within the same group.
The EEOC found that Cisco had not only allowed a hostile work environment to fester, but had retaliated against at least one employee by terminating her for her pro-Palestine activism. Legal Aid at Work, the nonprofit that filed the original complaint, described it as the first time a government or judicial body had sided with tech workers who collectively challenged their employer's military technology sales to Israel.
Civil rights organizations welcomed the ruling as a reminder that federal protections apply to Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian employees who speak out — and that employers bear a legal responsibility to address harassment fairly. But the determination has not yet produced change. Mediation between the EEOC and Cisco has stalled. Additional complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board and the California Labor Commissioner remain pending. Cisco did not respond to requests for comment.
In June, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued a determination that the networking company Cisco may have violated the civil rights of its Muslim and Arab employees. The finding centered on a hostile work environment created by anti-Arab and anti-Muslim comments posted on internal company messaging platforms—comments that emerged after a group of employees began organizing against Cisco's technology sales to the Israeli military.
The complaint that triggered the EEOC investigation came from a group calling itself Bridge to Humanity, filed in December 2024. Months earlier, these employees had circulated an open letter asking Cisco to stop providing its technology to the Israeli government. The letter was signed by more than 1,700 of the company's roughly 86,000 workers. After Cisco removed the letter from an internal site and placed it under review, many of the signatories reported being harassed. One employee was told to "quit living." The company did not respond to complaints about the harassment until the employees compiled a 76-page report documenting hate comments from an internal messaging group called the Connected Jewish Network.
The report, later made public by The Guardian, detailed waves of hateful posts. In one from November 2023, an unnamed employee wrote that "Israeli passersby killed 2 members of a Palestinian family in Jerusalem this morning, and I for one am extremely grateful." The 76-page document catalogued a pattern: employees had repeatedly glorified violence, joked about sending people to their deaths, compared Palestinians and those with opposing views to animals, and labeled Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims as murderous terrorists. The report also noted that the Connected Jewish Network itself was not functioning as a safe space for Jewish colleagues who disagreed with these sentiments.
The EEOC's determination found that Cisco had retaliated against at least one unnamed employee for her involvement in pro-Palestine activism by terminating her employment. Christopher Ho, director of the national origin and immigrants' rights program at Legal Aid at Work—the nonprofit that filed the complaint on behalf of the employees—told Al Jazeera that this appeared to be the first time a government or judicial body had sided with tech workers who organized collectively to challenge their employer's military technology sales to Israel.
Civil rights organizations seized on the finding as significant. Jeffrey Wang, a civil rights managing lawyer at the Council on American-Islamic Relations' San Francisco Bay Area chapter, said the EEOC's decision was "an important step toward accountability" and a reminder that federal protections apply to Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, and other employees who speak out about Palestine. He emphasized that employers have a legal responsibility to address harassment and discrimination fairly, and that workers should not face retaliation or hostile conditions because of their religion, national origin, or association with protected communities.
Yet the determination has not translated into immediate change. According to The Guardian's reporting, mediation efforts between the EEOC and Cisco have stalled. Legal Aid at Work has filed additional complaints against Cisco with the National Labor Relations Board and the California Labor Commissioner, alleging that the company unlawfully interfered with employees' federally protected right to engage in concerted activity to improve working conditions, and with their right to engage in political activities protected under California law. Both complaints remain pending. Cisco did not respond to requests for comment. The EEOC declined to discuss the case, citing confidentiality rules around charges filed with the agency.
Citações Notáveis
The EEOC's determination is particularly significant because it appears to be the first time in any legal context where a governmental or judicial finding has sided with Big Tech workers who have collectively organised to fight for corporate accountability around their employers' sales of their technology to Israel.— Christopher Ho, director of national origin and immigrants' rights program at Legal Aid at Work
Employers have a legal responsibility to address harassment and discrimination fairly and consistently. Workers should not have to fear retaliation or a hostile work environment because of their religion, national origin, or association with protected communities.— Jeffrey Wang, civil rights managing lawyer at Council on American-Islamic Relations
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War & Conflict