IBM to Face ‘Piggybacked’ Age Discrimination Claims, For Now

International Business Machines Corp. must face age discrimination claims brought by 34 former employees who alleged they were terminated as part of a company-wide effort to oust older workers, a federal court in New York said.

The ruling comes in a potential class action brought in 2018, alleging that IBM systematically began forcing older employees out of the company and replacing them with younger workers in 2012. It engaged in mass layoffs, terminated older employees for pretextual reasons, and constructively discharged older workers, the complainants say.

For example, IBM informed some employees that they were eligible for a retirement program ...