An
age-discrimination lawsuit filed by two people who interviewed unsuccessfully
for jobs at Google could expand to encompass other individuals if a motion
filed this week is successful.
The
motion for conditional certification of collective action status was filed in a
San Jose federal court Wednesday. Computerworld reports that the motion, which
is similar to a class action, aims to include “all individuals who interviewed
in-person for any software engineer, site reliability engineer, or systems
engineer position with Google in the United States in the time period from
August 13, 2010 through the present; were age 40 or older at the time of
interview; and were refused employment by Google.”
The
motion seeks to make the case “opt-in”, giving other parties the option to join
an age-discrimination lawsuit filed against Google last year.
The
anti-discrimination suit was filed last year by Robert Heath and alleges that
Google “engaged in a systematic pattern and practice of discriminating against
individuals (including Mr. Heath) who are age 40 and older in hiring,
compensation, and other employment decisions.”
In
February 2011 Google did not hire Heath, who was then 60, for a software
engineer position he had applied and interviewed for, according to the suit.
“Heath had highly-pertinent qualifications and experience, and a Google
recruiter even deemed him a ‘great candidate’,” it added. Heath had a
“technical phone interview” with Google for the role.
Last
year programmer Cheryl Fillekes joined Heath’s suit. Fillekes, who is in her
50s, was invited for in-person Google interviews on four separate occasions but
was not hired for any of the positions.
Fillekes,
who filed this week’s motion, has a doctoral degree in computational geophysics
from the University of Chicago and has undertaken postdoctoral work at Harvard.
Washington
D.C.-based law firm Kotchen & Low is representing Fillekes in the case. “We
think that there are a whole host of folks who are qualified and did not
receive a position at Google because of their age,” Daniel Kotchen, a partner
at the law firm, told in media.
If
the court approves the motion filed this week, Google would be required to
provide names and contact details for every applicant over 40 who had in-person
interviews for software engineer, site reliability engineer or systems engineer
jobs. The individuals would then be contacted and given the option to join the
lawsuit, according to Kotchen.
Fillekes’
motion identifies a number of other job applicants by initials, Computerworld
reports.
The
motion will be heard in court on Nov. 10.
Citing
data from compensation research specialist Payscale, Heath’s lawsuit claims
that in 2013 the median age for a Google employee was 29.
Heath
is represented by San Francisco law firm Smith Patten. Dow Patten, a partner at
the firm, told that Heath is seeking to join the motion for conditional
certification, with a change to its scope. "It will expand the scope
beyond those that were screened out during in-person interviews to include
those who were screened out during telephonic technical interviews," he
said.
Heath's
initial lawsuit will go to trial in July 2017.
The
median age for a computer programmer in the U.S. is 43, according to 2015 data
from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
A
Google spokeswoman told that the company doesn’t comment on pending litigation.
This
is not the first time that a Silicon Valley heavweight has been accused of age
discrimination.
In
2011 an age discrimination lawsuit filed by former Google executive Brian Reid
was settled for undisclosed damages.
Former
Twitter employee Peter Taylor filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco-based
firm in 2014, alleging that he was fired for being too old. The case was settled
last year.
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