by Christina Coulter at Daily Mail
IBM faces an age discrimination lawsuit for forcing out hundreds of older employees, referring to them as ‘dinobabies’ who should be an ‘extinct species’ in favor of younger ‘digital natives,’ according to court documents.
A court filing by attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, who is representing hundreds of former IBM employees for ‘age animus from IBM’s highest ranks,’ claims that unnamed executives were aware of a ‘companywide plan to oust older employees in order to make room for younger employees.’
‘IBM has engaged in egregious age discrimination,’ Liss-Riordan said in an interview Friday. ‘IBM has tried to use arbitration clauses to shield that evidence from the public and other employees who are trying to build their cases of discrimination.’
Although this case was filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last July, the company has faced a range of similar lawsuits in recent years.
In an undated email chain quoted in the filing, a top IBM executive – whose name was redacted – allegedly detailed a plan to ‘accelerate change by inviting the “dinobabies” (new species) to leave’ to make room for younger employees.
In another, another unnamed executive said IBM’s ‘dated maternal workforce’ was something that ‘must change’ at the company, writing ‘they really don’t understand social or engagement. Not digital natives. A real threat for us,’ according to the filing…
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