IBM ‘Refresh’ Workforce Planning Documents Could Prove Age Bias

Public and internal statements by IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and other executives about the need to “refresh” the company’s workforce could convince a jury a 59-year-old Hybrid Cloud unit sales employee was laid off because of his age, the Western District of Texas ruled.

Jonathan Langley raised disputed fact issues requiring a trial on whether International Business Machines Corp.'s explanation that it RIF’d him for financial reasons really was a pretext for age discrimination, the court said Feb. 28. Langley’s evidence would also allow a jury to infer that bias drove the decision to include him in the alleged reduction ...