In February 2022, in an email chain, IBM officials described a plan to accelerate change by persuading ‘dinobabies’ to leave and turning them into ‘extinct species’. This email was presented against the backdrop of an age discrimination case filed against the company. The IBM officials have been accused of complaining about the ‘dated maternal workforce’ and that the company has a much lower share of millennials in its workforce compared to its competitors. As per reports, a former IBM VP of human resources said in a court deposition that the company had been facing recruitment problems; in order to show millennials that IBM was not an ‘old fuddy duddy organisation,’ the company wanted to position itself as a ‘cool’ company.

In the recent development in one of the related cases, IBM settled an age-discrimination case filed by the widow of a sales executive. The executive took his life after being laid off by the company. Denis Lohnn claimed that her husband Jorgen killed himself allegedly after being laid off from IBM in 2016 at the age of 57 after 15 years of service. 

Ageism plagues IT companies around the world, including India Inc. Often referred to as a young person’s profession, how deep is this problem really?

Age discrimination 

For the uninitiated, baby boomers are the persons who were born between 1944 and 1964, Gen X are people born between 1965 and 1979, and Gen Y or millennials are the ones born between 1980 and 1994.

A 2020 study by TimesJob and TechGig showed that India Inc is biased in age way more than other parameters like physical appearance, culture, gender, religion, and race. Upto 33% of Indian employees are facing or have faced age-related bias – the number was 17% for physical appearance and 15% on the basis of religion or culture, closely followed by gender-based discrimination at 14%. This is a problem graver than it appears on the face of it, especially considering the fact that Gen Z is joining/will be joining the workforce.

In a time when the workforce predominantly comprises young millennials, it is difficult for baby boomers to feel equally valued and appreciated. Discriminatory behaviour is often seen in the recruitment process and even after that. Employers and colleagues often dismiss their efforts, even when they bring to the table as much as their younger counterparts. Sometimes, they may be assigned work that is well below their positions – a tactic often used for soft layoff. This discrimination is more pronounced in the case of startups, which heavily rely on younger and ‘more agile’ employees.

Laws against age discrimination

The US has Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) that forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 and above. This act covers instances like not hiring an individual in favour of hiring a ‘younger-looking’ person; giving a negative performance review in case an employee was too old or inflexible in taking on a new role; turning down promotion on the basis of age; targeting older employees in case of layoffs; using age-based derogatory terms.

There have been several instances where this law has come to employers’ rescue. One of the prime examples is the Western Air Lines Vs Criswell 472 US 400 (1985). In this case, the Supreme Court held that it was lawful to retire airline pilots at 60, in keeping with the Federal Aviation Administration rules; but the court held that refusing to employ flight engineers over that age was unjustified as there were no such FAA requirements.

India currently does not have any codified law on age discrimination and there is no designated statutory body that deals with matters pertaining to age discrimination. In this situation, only common law actions can be instituted in exceptional cases. Remedies may include reinstatement (in case of termination) with or without compensation in labour courts, service tribunals or civil courts.

On a company level, the employer must ensure diversity in the workforce, even in terms of employees’ age groups. Experts suggest that companies, especially startups, must ensure that they are truly equal opportunity employers.