The federal district court has published documents confirming the intention of the management of one of the largest hardware software makers IBM to gradually lay off employees over 40 years old. Earlier in there were reports of former employees of IBM that the company is seeking to replace these workers with younger ones. However, for the first time it became known about the participation in this discussion of the top management of the manufacturer. The allegations of age discrimination were denied by IBM HR director Nickle Lamoreaux.
Court documents indicate that the company is discussing the dismissal of thousands of employees, whose places should be filled by millennials. Thus, the company will try to reduce the gap from competitors in the market. IBM's top management joins the discussion, dismissively calling some of its employees "dinosaurs."
According to executives, there are a small number of millennials in the company's staff.
IBM spokesman Adam Pratt assures that the company has never engaged in systematic age discrimination. He adds that employee layoffs have been linked to changes in business conditions and demand for specific skills. Pratt cites as proof of his words that IBM from 2010 to 2020 hired more than 10 thousand employees over 50 years old in the United States. The average age of employees, according to a company representative, is 48 years.
In 2018, the non-profit research organization ProPublica spoke about IBM's intention to replace older employees with younger ones. The initiative came from the current CEO of the corporation, Jeannie Rometty, who then served as chief executive. The replacement of employees would allow the company to gain market share in cloud services, big data analytics, mobile devices, security and social networks, management believes.
In 2020, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released a report on IBM's practices that take an aggressive approach to reduce the company's older workforce. However, the authors of the report did not provide any evidence.
The current court filings include the content of emails in which IBM executives complain that Accenture's staff is 72% millennial, while IBM's is only 42%. The management recommended hiring the first "early professionals", as the corporation calls positions that do not require much experience from the applicant. Managers wrote that female employees over 40 are not involved in the company's activities and pose a threat to it.
Pratt said that some of the participants in the correspondence have not been with the company since 2020.
The plaintiffs allege that IBM tried to get older employees fired by requiring them to relocate to continue working. The Human Resources Department was prohibited from considering applications for vacancies from employees subject to dismissal.
US federal law prohibits discrimination against people over 40 at work based on age. The regulation requires companies to disclose the ages and titles of those who work in a group or department before the dismissed employee waives filing a claim. However, since 2014, IBM has stopped providing this information, citing the possibility of resolving the conflict in arbitration. Pratt says the solution protects workers' privacy.
A few days after the release of court documents, Lamoreau declared the accusations to be false. She stressed that discrimination is against the culture of IBM.
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