Technology giant IBM targeted “grey hairs” and “old heads” for negative performance reviews so it could oust them from the company as it formed a “Millennial Corps” and focused on hiring “early professionals,” a new age-discrimination lawsuit claims.
“In the past six years alone, IBM has discharged over 20,000 U.S. employees who were at least 40 years old in pursuit of a company-wide practice of using forced group terminations, referred to as ‘Resource Actions,’ to accomplish its goal of removing older employees from its labor force,” said the lawsuit filed Wednesday by four former IBM employees. Three had worked at the company for more than three decades, and one for more than 10 years, the suit said. All were over 55 when they were sacked in May 2016, according to the suit.
The suit alleged that IBM required employees to submit claims of age discrimination to binding arbitration, but also banned them from collective arbitration over such claims.
IBM said in an emailed statement that the plaintiffs’ theories have been rejected by courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. “We are confident that our arbitration clauses are legal and appropriate,” the firm said. The company added that a body of Supreme Court cases upholds arbitration agreements.
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/03/27/ibm-purged-gray-hairs-and-old-heads-as-it-launched-millennial-corps-lawsuit/