Should I be laid off at the age of 40? IBM is suspected of age discrimination, calling its old employees "dinosaurs" and planning to dismiss, but the employees can't refute it

Arrangement | Guo Lu
Produce | CSDN（ID：CSDNnews）

As a world leading technology company ,IBM stay 20 century 80 As many as 25 Million employees . The company offers generous treatment to its employees , And support racial equality 、 Women's ideas of equal pay for equal work and lifelong employment , In exchange for employees' loyalty to the company .

However , With the rapid development of science and Technology 、 After the company began to go global ,IBM Have to change . Unlike other companies ,IBM Most of the employees are experienced elderly employees .

（ Graph source self ICphoto）

And then IBM The staff structure has been adjusted , Hire new employees at lower wages , And dismiss old employees .2018 year 9 month ProPubllica A survey of , The company is suspected of age discrimination , Fired about 20,000 name 40 Employees older than , Accounting for the total number of layoffs in the United States at that time 60% about .

According to the ProPublica Survey results show that ,IBM：

• Denied the information of elderly employees stipulated by law , To determine whether they are victims of age discrimination , And require employees to sign and waive the right to seek compensation in court .
• Even if employees are rated as high performance ,IBM They will also be dismissed on the grounds that older employees are not good at technology . In some cases , The money saved from leaving employees will be used to hire young employees .
• Turn layoffs into retirement , And try to force employees to resign or find excuses to dismiss . This can reduce the number of employees counted in layoffs , Because there are too many layoffs, they may be required to disclose publicly .
• Encourage laid-off employees to apply IBM The vacant position of , But at the same time, they are not allowed to be employed by the Department . If the department wants to hire these elderly employees , It must be approved by the company headquarters .
• Conduct pua, While saying that their skills are out of date , And let them come back to work as contract workers , Do the same job with lower salary and benefits .

Bloomberg reports , Documents filed by the court in the age discrimination case against the company last week showed ,IBM The senior executives mentioned again in the email that they would fire the old employees , And call them “ The dinosaur ”, Dinosaurs should be extinct . At the same time, company executives also said , Maternity should also be dismissed , Among the employees of the company , The proportion of millennials is very low , Far less than other companies .

ProPubllica We also surveyed more than 1000 former IBM The situation of the staff . Lawyer Shannon · rees · Riordan filed a class action lawsuit in Manhattan federal court on behalf of employees , And said IBM There is age discrimination .

Age discrimination cannot be prosecuted ？

After this ,IBM Speaker Adam · Pratt defended the company in a statement , He said ,IBM There will never be any age discrimination , The reason why employees are dismissed is because of changes in the business environment , Not because of their age . The statement said ,2020 The median age of American employees hovered around 48 s , And 2010 In the flat . but IBM Not willing to disclose the number of American employees at that time . The spokesman added: , The content in the email does not match IBM The idea of respecting employees , It cannot reflect the company's policies .

In court testimony , Top 1 IBM HR staff said —— In order to recruit new employees and retain young employees ,IBM Pretend that you are not a traditional and conservative company , But an enlightened company .

Shannon · rees · Lildan said ：“IBM There is serious age discrimination , And it is trying to use the arbitration clause to cover up the evidence .”

The United States of America 《 Age discrimination in Employment Act 》 I mentioned , Discrimination by the company is prohibited 40 People aged and over . The act also requires employees to waive prosecution of age discrimination , Disclose the age and position of all laid-off and retained employees of the company or department .

Reuters reported the case and said ：“ The United States Court of Appeals in 2022 year 2 month 10 A ruling was made on , According to the former IBM Severance Agreement signed by employees , They have no right to file a class action , And said they were fired to give young employees opportunities .”

Reuters also mentioned ,“ The full court of the United States Court of Appeals for the second circuit said , The waiver of the right to file a class action in the agreement is valid , The reason is that the right to collective prosecution is not a right mentioned in federal laws related to age discrimination .” in other words , front IBM Employees have no right to file a class action on age discrimination .

【 Reference material 】
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2022/02/12/ibm-accused-of-ageism-older-workers-are-dinobabies-who-should-be-made-an-extinct-species/?sh=36bfe342129c
https://features.propublica.org/ibm/ibm-age-discrimination-american-workers/