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Google pays $11 million to settle 227 age discrimination claims
Google will pay $11 million to settle the claims of 227 people who say they were unfairly denied jobs because of their age, according to Friday court filings. The settlement must still be approved by the judge in the case.
The original lead plaintiff in the case, first filed in 2015, was a 60-something man named Robert Heath who says he was deemed a "great candidate" by a Google recruiter. The lawsuit said that in 2013, the median age of Google employees was 29, whereas the typical computer programmer in the US is over 40, according to several different measures.
During the interview process, Heath received a technical phone interview with a Google engineer. Heath alleged that the engineer had a heavy accent, a problem made worse by the engineer's insistence on using a speakerphone. When Heath was working through a technical problem, he asked if he could share his code using a Google Doc. The interviewer refused, Heath alleged. Instead, Heath had to read code snippets over the phone—an inherently error-prone process. Heath argued that the interview process "reflected a complete disregard for older workers who are undeniably more susceptible to hearing loss."
[... Cheryl Fillekes] says she interviewed for engineering jobs at Google four times but was never offered a position. During one interview process, Fillekes says, a recruiter requested that she submit an updated résumé that showed her graduation dates for college and graduate degrees. When Fillekes asked why this was required, she says the recruiter responded that it was "so the interviewers can see how old you are."
Of the $11 million payout in the settlement, $2.75 million will go to lawyers representing the class, Bloomberg reports. Fillekes will get an extra $10,000 as the lead plaintiff. The remaining cash works out to around $35,000 per plaintiff.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 23 2019, @08:28PM (4 children)
discrimination is a fundamental right of any free human being. letting the government or any other group tell you who you must hire or associate with is giving away your sovereignty. eventually they will be forcing you to hire, do work for, associate or even live with people you are completely opposed to or in danger from. publicly funded institutions discriminating is something completely different as all parties ostensibly participated in the funding of the thing. private enterprises are the purview of the owner or group of owners and they alone should decide what their policies are.
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Tuesday July 23 2019, @10:02PM (1 child)
While you may think that sounds great on the surface, surely you can see what a society with nobody over age 40 employed at all would look like. Because that's what you're talking about.
The thing is, everyone gets older. You really can't save enough for potentially 50 years of retirement by the time you're 40, regardless of how much you're putting away unless you're extremely well paid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 24 2019, @12:00AM
Off to Carousel: "Renew! Renew!"
(Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Tuesday July 23 2019, @10:45PM (1 child)
But big companies are not human beings. They have many obligations of public institutions.
(Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Wednesday July 24 2019, @12:10AM
Agreed, but as an older tech guy who has been on both sides of the interview table, you really need to let the hiring manager hire someone they are comfortable with and believe in. Of course, this gives them the opportunity to apply their biases, but I don’t see any blanket solution that’s fair to everyone.
All I ask is that I not get screened out by the company recruiter on the basis of age so I can get at least get a chance to make my case directly to the hiring manager in a phone interview.