Google faces court in age discrimination case

The California Supreme Court has ruled that a Google ageism case should go to a jury trial

The California Supreme Court has ruled that Google will have to defend itself in front of a jury against charges of age discrimination.

Brian Reid, a former Google director, is claiming that he was fired because of his age, and that he was routinely ridiculed by younger staff. He is suing after he lost his job and stock options that would be worth millions today.

The case was initially dismissed, but the Supreme Court found that the so-called 'stray remarks doctrine' applied and the case could go ahead.

This broadly states that disparaging remarks made by those not directly in the chain of command can be considered as evidence.

According to court documents (PDF) Reid, then 52, was hired by Google as director of operations and director of engineering in June 2002.

Despite receiving initial excellent reviews, younger members of the company routinely described Reid's ideas as "obsolete" and "too old to matter", and his CD jewel cases were referred to as "LPs".

After an email from Google co-founder Sergey Brin about managing employee payrolls, Google's vice president of engineering, Wayne Rosing, replied detailing the plans for his staff.

"We are looking for a senior director (note I did not capitalise senior) or vice president level person to run this operation," he said.

In October 2003, Rosing removed Reid from the director of operations position, and relieved him of his responsibilities as director of engineering, although he was allowed to keep the title. He was replaced by two staff 15 and 20 years younger.

Reid was shifted to a new role, developing a plan for recruiting students to Google, but was given no staff or budget, despite what Reid described as a personal commitment from Google chief executive Eric Schmidt to run the programme for at least five years.

Schmidt sent an email to Rosing in January 2004 asking for "a proposal on getting [Reid] out". Rosing suggested that Reid should receive a bonus of $11,300 (£7,085), in addition to a severance package, to avoid "a judge concluding we acted harshly".

The programme was shut down in February and Reid was laid off as a result, although he claims he was told it was because of "cultural fit". He was encouraged to apply for other jobs in the company, but an email from HR suggests that this was not an option for Google.

"This is the company decision," HR director Stacy Sullivan wrote in an email discussing Reid's job hunting. "We'll all agree on the job elimination angle."

No court date has been set, but the outcome is being watched closely by employers and employees alike. As the IT workforce ages, companies face an increasingly litigious atmosphere with little idea how to cope.

"Brian Reid was not laid off based on his age," said Google spokesman Andrew Pederson. "We look forward to demonstrating in court the legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons why Reid was let go."