EEOC finds reasonable cause against Intel in age-discrimination cases

[Newsjock]

Source: San Jose Mercury News

John Carpenter knows what it's like to be an old man in Silicon Valley.

Old. As in over 50.

When he was laid off from Intel in summer 2006, along with hundreds of other managers, he couldn't think of a logical reason he'd been selected. Except for one: He was a 53-year-old man with a salary bigger than recent hires and handsome benefits that were costing the company more by the year.

"I ran into my next-door cube mate and he said the same thing happened to him," says Carpenter, 57, a 27-year Intel employee who helped manage a Santa Clara chip plant. "He was over 50 with more than 20 years with the company. I found three or four other people who got the same treatment. They were all long-term employees, all over 50 years old."

... And now, four years later, the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says it agrees. It sent Carpenter -- and dozens of other laid-off Intel managers who filed complaints -- a finding saying its investigation concluded that there is "reasonable cause" to believe that the workers were selected because they were old.

Read more: http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_16156728