A 52-year-old man has sued Facebook, his former employer, in connection with his involuntary termination from the company in 2015. In his lawsuit, which was filed in a Los Angeles court, he alleges age discrimination as well as wrongful termination.
According to the man's lawsuit, he complained about a pervasive atmosphere at Facebook, which favored younger people, that is, people who had the opportunity to grow up around social media. He also claimed he reported his concerns internally but got no response from upper management.
The man had been working for Facebook since 2007, after the social media giant took over the company for which the man worked. He said at a certain point, he watched as several older workers, people over 50, got let go. The explanations for the terminations, he said, was poor fit in Facebook's culture and an inability to "get it" or move quickly enough at work, which the man took as roundabout ways of saying the workers were too old.
He also claimed that other employees were allowed to discriminate against people who were older, at least implicitly. He said he heard many of his colleagues refer to a speech in which the Facebook founder had mentioned a preference for younger, "smarter" workers.
The man said his internal complaints were met with retaliation, and he began to get poor performance reviews and get other complaints about his work, including complaints that he did not move quickly enough for the taste of his managers.
Facebook terminated the man in late 2015, and, according to him, offered a severance package. It was not clear whether the man signed a severance package, but he is now taking his claims to court. Los Angeles residents who have been victims of age discrimination may have the option to do the same thing.
Source: Menlo Park Patch, "Former Facebook employee, 52, sues over alleged age discrimination," Sept. 22, 2017.
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