Class Action Lawsuit Hits T-Mobile, Amazon, Cox and Hundreds of Large Employers for Allegedly....

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CWA

Today, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and three workers filed a class action lawsuit against T-Mobile US, Amazon.com, Inc. (Amazon), Cox Communications and Media Group (Cox), and hundreds of other large employers and employment agencies who allegedly engaged in the unlawful practice of excluding older workers from receiving job ads on Facebook for open positions at their companies. The lawsuit, which challenges how Facebook’s paid ad platform is allegedly being used to hide job ads and opportunities from older workers nationally, has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The case comes several days after the 50th anniversary of Congress passing the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibited age discrimination in employment nationwide, raised public awareness of this widespread problem, and inspired state and local governments to enact similar legislation.

In the Complaint, CWA and the workers allege that, through an in-depth investigation, they have discovered that hundreds of employers and employment agencies are illegally targeting their employment ads on Facebook to exclude older workers who fall outside specified age ranges (such as ages 18 to 40, or ages 22 to 45), purposely preventing these older workers from seeing the ads or pursuing job opportunities. The Complaint alleges that this practice constitutes a violation of federal, state, and local laws that bar age discrimination in employment advertising, recruiting, and hiring.

Exhibit A to the Complaint shows pictures of these companies’ employment ads. The Complaint and Exhibits showing the discriminatory employment ads can be found here.

FULL info at link below.

Read more: https://cwa-union.org/news/releases/class-action-lawsuit-hits-tmobile-amazon-cox-for-alleged-age-discrimination

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[PoliticAverse]

1. Reced for exposure. n/t

[bucolic_frolic]

2. It ain't just Facebook

"recent grads only"

Great Recession unemployed still face barriers to entry, and they are largely older workers. These include stiff credential requirements such as "recent references". And I still see ads for "females", meaning females (only).

[metalbot]

3. Interesting

What's interesting here is the evidence that was supplied by the plaintiffs, which is that Facebook provides a certain degree of transparency in it's advertising. You can click on the ellipses next to the ad and see "Why am I seeing this ad?" In the case of the employers being sued, the Facebook explanation shows what demographic they paid to hire to, including age. Interestingly, if Facebook did NOT allow you to see why the ads target you, then the plaintiffs would have no standing, because you are absolutely allowed to advertise to whatever age demographic you want to as long as your ads don't imply a hiring bias based on age.

[They_Live]

4. K & R n/t

[riversedge]

5. k for visibility

[DURHAM D]

6. Just yesterday I went into my local Cox store to ask a question

about my DVR. It has developed some quirks. While waiting I watched a young man repeatedly insult the older woman he was waiting on. He was not listening to what she was asking. He just kept answering questions he heard in his head and not from her mouth. Finally, she said "I am not stupid, stop treating me like I am and start listening to my question".

Then I was approached by a young male clerk that I had dealt with before. I didn't really want him to wait on me but I went ahead. After a little back and forth it was clear to me that he did not have a clue about the specific question I was asking. Finally he said "we haven't had that type of equipment for decades". I responded, "that is funny given that Cox installed it less than 2 years ago and decades by definition is at least 20 years". His response "Whatever..."

There is one female who works there and the rest are young men. All the men are jerks. They are sexist and ageists. I told the female who has been there the longest that they need to employ more women and older men.

She agreed. I have seen her intervene more than once when customers are being poorly treated by the boys.

[Norbert10]

7. All of em huh?

”All the men are jerks. They are sexist and ageists.”

[LanternWaste]

15. You sound so oppressed.

You sound so oppressed.

[Tarc]

20. It helps to read what people actually say, rather than what you think they said

As they were commenting on all the male employees in particularity store, not all men in sales, nor all men in general.

Hopefully your next 27 posts will be better than the first.

[Norbert10]

27. Yeah I can read. Salty much?

I doubt she met every male who works there. Sure sounds like hyperbole to me. It helps to practice what you preach!

[Tarc]

32. 29 posts

Keep going, you'll get there!

[Norbert10]

33. Yeah Norbert9 had quite a few hundred posts

Then I was blocked for questioning Mensch. Shame on my free thinking.

[Stonepounder]

11. A couple of years ago we were having problems with our cable.

It kept falling offline. Having spent about 40 years working in IT I have some knowledge about networks and the like. Looking at the error logs on our modem/router I determined that we were getting 'T3 timeouts'. (When you have 3 reconnect failures in a row it generates a T1 timeout. If you get 3 T1s in a row you get a T2. 3T2s generate a T3). It took something like 12 service calls to resolve the issue. I had one tech want to know 'Who told you how to log onto the router?'. Ummm...Google? Each time a young man would come out, never bother to look at the error logs, just replace the ends of the cable and go on their merry way. Never fixed the problem. Of course I suspect that they took a one week class on how to fix a problem and that was it.

Finally got someone in the call center who had a clue instead of a script and who actually listened when I told him I had an app where I could see what was going on. He grabbed the same app, watched it with me for a bit and agreed that there was a problem. The next day an old guy (LOL...probably about 40) came out. Checked the cable that ran from the street box to our POE. Major drop in signal strength. He called dispatch on the spot and told them go get a team out to replace the cable from the box to our POE.

Haven't had any trouble since. We old farts tend to get paid better because we know more and have been there and done that and learned our trade over time. But we cost more. But I'll bet it cost our cable company a lot more for the 12 service calls that didn't fix the problem than it cost for the one guy who knew what the hell to look for.

[IronLionZion]

18. Parable of The Old Engineer and the Hammer

The Graybeard engineer retired and a few weeks later the Big Machine broke down, which was essential to the company’s revenue. The Manager couldn’t get the machine to work again so the company called in Graybeard as an independent consultant.

Graybeard agrees. He walks into the factory, takes a look at the Big Machine, grabs a sledge hammer, and whacks the machine once whereupon the machine starts right up. Graybeard leaves and the company is making money again.

The next day Manager receives a bill from Graybeard for $5,000. Manager is furious at the price and refuses to pay. Graybeard assures him that it’s a fair price. Manager retorts that if it’s a fair price Graybeard won’t mind itemizing the bill. Graybeard agrees that this is a fair request and complies.

The new, itemized bill reads….

Hammer: $5

Knowing where to hit the machine with hammer: $4995

[Stonepounder]

21. My dad told me that one when I was a kid (he used a plumber and a knocking pipe).

I've used it with many tradesmen over the years to let them know that I appreciate their expertise.

But the message remains the same. You don't become an expert overnight.

[IronLionZion]

23. Ironically, America is experiencing a shortage of skilled tradespeople

as fewer new people are entering the field and older ones retire.

[LittleGirl]

26. OR

us old skilled tradespeople are left behind unemployed because nobody wants to hire us or for that matter, interview us!

[IronLionZion]

28. How is there both a shortage and people with the right skills looking for work?

[LittleGirl]

29. age discrimination. you just have to prove it.

and you can't.

[IronLionZion]

16. There are all types of people in this world

some are more helpful than others. It transcends age, gender, and race. I've encountered helpful knowledgeable people and useless assholes of every demographic.

[zentrum]

8. K&R

[Honeycombe8]

9. Aw, geez. Say it ain't so. Why wouldn't they want older workers?

Older workers are reliable, experienced, law abiding, usu. don't do drugs or come in Monday mornings hung over. Older people are NOT 1955 grandma and grandpa types. Times have changed.

There are a lot of actors & celebrities over 50 who are still kickin' it. Alec Baldwin, Christie Brinkley (over 60), Antonio Banderas, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Meryl Streep, Halle Berry, Sandra Bullock, Jamie Lee Curtis, Diane Lane, Sharon Stone, and many others.

Maybe they didn't exclude groups so much as they targeted certain groups, which has the effect of excluding other groups?

[Pacifist Patriot]

12. While I agree that our older workers are...

generally more reliable and experienced on average, I am currently dealing with two employees over 45 with drinking problems impacting their work. Only one millenial would be considered a "difficult employee" and it's his job performance and attitude towards that. I know the plural of anecdote is not data, but we shouldn't make broad determinations about any particular generation. All employees come with advantages and disadvantages regardless of their age. And more times than not I've found it's based on them as individuals, not their generation.

[IronLionZion]

17. Health insurance costs

older people tend to use more health care services and are more likely to have families who also need health insurance.

I like old people. But some employers like money more than experience and feel that younger workers are cheaper.

[Honeycombe8]

31. This is true. Health ins. gets costly for older people.

But I don't know if I'd call them "old people." 50 isn't an old person, IMO.

But I remember when I was a youngster. I figured out I'd be 45 when something happened in the future, and I thought, WOW..45???...will I be able to walk and all at that age???? I'll be so old!

[docgee]

10. Well I thought it was weird that I had an interview offer from Amazon.

I had no desire to relocate to Seattle, or wherever they're from, but it seemed unusual for them to be reaching out. They must get a massive amount of people trying to work there. Now I know they were just covering their ass.

[crazycatlady]

13. There's a progressive organization

that asks for SAT scores as part of the job application.

I've been out of high school 20 years as of June. I don't remember my SAT scores.

THier application is clearly meant for recent grads. They also ask for school, GPA, graduation year, and college activities. I applied in person at a job fair and told them I've been out of college for years and they still wanted all of that information.

(FYI they have very high turnover as their pay is about 60% the going rate).

[FakeNoose]

14. LOL! SAT scores, like that means anything

You could have given them any numbers and they would have no way to know. Make yourself look good though. Tell them you scored 750 on math and 780 on verbal. (or similar)

College grades are easier for them to look up and confirm so you can't really lie about those. If they insist, then tell them you'll provide your transcripts when you come to the interview. This puts them on the spot because they have to tell you that there probably won't ever be an interview.

The people who do these job fairs usually aren't even employees of the company, they've been hired to do the screening from an outside agency. So why should they be allowed to use this as an opportunity to invade your privacy? Your resume should be enough, assuming it's been kept up-to-date.

Good luck, and don't let the assholes get you down!

[crazycatlady]

19. Thanks

I did make something up (maybe 1200 but they made it clear they were not looking for the 1600 scale).

I was born in the 80s. I'm probably too old for them.

(This is a group that does street fundraising for environmental causes)

[Stonepounder]

22. LOL. This is why I retired and haven't looked for work.

I was born in the 40s. Although WalMart doesn't seem to care about age. My neighbor who is several years older than me is working at WalMart.

[Brainstormy]

24. Not at ALL surprising

The abilities to spell, punctuate, write coherent sentences, and type with more than two fingers are just not the commodities they once were in the job market. And, of course, none of us "Olds" know how to use modern technology, like that internet thingie.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Assholes!

[JDC]

30. I honestly wonder if it's more than age they are targeting

What's to stop them from shaping ads for men vs women or black vs white. Religion, etc etc. I read here yesterday that "when used responsibly" this is supposed to be effective. It's an easy arguement to make that "when not used responsibly" it can be just as "effective" if not more so.
Facebook is shit.