Thread regarding Verizon Communications Inc. layoffs

@WBQHbPl-uih - you really can't speak for everyone because you don't know everyone's personal life situations. In a perfect world , YES, you should be able to retire in your 50's, with 30 years in, but this is far from a perfect world!

Hasta la Vista ....baby!!

If you’ve got 30 years and are in your 50’s, and are not ready to retire....you done messed up. If you can’t afford to go..don’t push the button! They had a number they were looking for and they would’ve taken people with less time (ie. younger people) to reach that number.

"I was older, and I absolutely did not want to go!"

Same here. I've had dozens of interviews since I was laid off. Most of them for jobs that are far less complicated and have far less responsibility than I had at XO/Verizon. (Less money too, which is fine with me.)

Eventually it's gets down to age and I get passed over. I've always been able to find work in my field in the past. When I moved to Dallas, I applied for six jobs and got five job offers.

That's reality. Age discrimination is "supposed" to be unlawful -- but believe me, they find a way to get around it.

“Most employees who are older want to go...how is this discrimination?“

In my case, wrong. Assumption on your part.

@xrv Actually, we InfoSys declinees didn't get the VSP, we got an ESP. The difference is that ours is not classified as voluntary. Could make a difference in unemployment benefits. But you are absolutely correct in that I do not know one "young-un" who was tapped to go.

Worst, Next wave of rebadging will not offer VSP as an option, at most you will get std severance or terminated for those not opting in rebadging.

Also the infosys deal was a poorly disguised way to get rid of older tenured employees. We at first were given no choice but to take the infosys offer or be terminated. Only after bad press and pressure from impacted employees did they make us eligible for VSP.

Like many others that I started with. we were hoping to "really" retire from Verizon not find a new job. After seeing most of our peers get laid off over the past 5 years most everyone I talked to felt our time was coming to an end. The decision was to take the package now or wait for a package.

I was older, and I absolutely did not want to go!

"Most employees who are older want to go...how is this discrimination?"

First -- how do you come to the conclusion that "most" older employees want to go?

Second -- if Verizon is targeting older employees (even if we accept the asinine assumption "they want to go"), it's still discrimination.

dis·crim·i·na·tion

1. the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or s-x.

Most employees who are older want to go...how is this discrimination?