Internet giant, Google, sued for age discrimination

On Behalf of | Apr 29, 2015 | Workplace Discrimination

Google is once again making news for a legal situation as the company faces allegations of discrimination. The Internet giant is being sued in federal court by a man who claims the company practices age discrimination. Any tech worker in Colorado or those interested in breaking into the tech field may want to learn more about the allegations the company currently faces.

The man at the center of the suit is 60 years old. In 2011, he was interviewed for a position and rejected as a candidate for employment. The man contends he is more than highly qualified and believes a dysfunctional interview process and the fact that the median age of employees at Google is only 29 are factors as to why he was not given the chance to work there.

During his phone interview, the case states that the interviewer was not very well adept at speaking English and this led to difficult communications. Also, there were issues with technical questions and answers that resulted in the man having to recite a program code over the phone. The man suing Google is looking to form a class action suit based on the experiences of others over 40 who have been denied employment with Google.

The suit in this age discrimination case claims the practice of not hiring anyone over 40 is a pattern and a violation of federal law. When it comes to discrimination cases of any kind in Colorado, evidence of a pattern of similar behavior regarding other employees or potential employees in the same protected class may help strengthen a case. Also, other forms of evidence that potentially prove discrimination, such as emails, phones calls or documents, may prove beneficial if a case moves forward in a federal or state court.

Source: arstechnica.com, “64-year-old engineer sues Google for age discrimination“, Joe Mullin, April 25, 2015