New hope for aging IT workers?
By Maria Seminerio, eWEEK
June 4, 2000 9:00 PM PT
URL: http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2579424,00.html


IT workers of all stripes tend to look over their shoulders as they get
older—-and it's no secret why: When hard times hit, it's older workers
with their higher salaries and bigger benefits packages who often feel
the ax first.


Now, the eyes of the IT community are trained on two lawsuits pending in the
U.S. Supreme Court and the California Supreme Court, each set as early
as this summer for a ruling that could clarify what constitutes proof of
age discrimination in wrongful termination disputes. The cases could
also help determine whether workers, after a certain number of years on
the job, have "implied contracts" offering increased job security.


In the California case, 49-year-old John Guz, who during a 22-year career
at San Francisco-based construction giant Bechtel Group Inc. was
promoted six times, was fired from his job in 1993 just months after
receiving a special award for finding new ways to save the company
money. The financial reports supervisor was told he was being laid off
in an unavoidable cost-cutting move. But as part of a four-member team,
Guz, now 56, and a then-50-year-old colleague were let go while two
younger workers were kept on, according to the lawsuit. Bechtel
maintains the firing was lawful and simply an economic move.


The Bechtel ruling could clear some of the confusion experts said was
caused by a 1988 California Supreme Court decision that workers can't be
fired without just cause if they can prove they had a so-called implied
contract with their employer. Some state judges have said workers with
more than 10 years of service have an implied contract.


In the U.S. Supreme Court case, a Mississippi worker filed suit after being
fired from his job as a midlevel manager at age 58 after 40 years with
his company, a toilet seat manufacturer that also said the layoff was a
cost-cutting move. The worker, Roger Reeves, who is now 63, saw his
case go to trial and was awarded $98,000, but the verdict was overturned
by a federal appeals court.


Guz's attorney, William Quackenbush, who is based in San Mateo, Calif.,
said the Guz case "has the potential to be a very important decision"
for older workers in all fields.


"In the worst-case scenario, the court could say the plaintiff must have
substantial evidence of age discrimination" to get a case past the
so-called summary judgment phase to trial before a jury, Quackenbush
said.


This is crucial, he said, because juries tend to be sympathetic to
plaintiffs in age discrimination cases, and most cases are dismissed
before going to the judgment phase.


In IT, proving age discrimination is far from easy. Take Doug las
Kretzmann. The 40-year-old technical support staffer would like to get
back into software programming but says he's five years too old to be
considered a prime job candidate. Kretzmann is certified in 15
languages, from COBOL and FORTRAN to Java, HTML and XML (Extensible
Markup Language).


To combat the notion that older workers aren't well-versed in the latest and
greatest, it's key for them to continually take refresher courses,
experts said. "The lack of Java or XML training can sometimes be a valid
criticism," said Bill Payson, CEO of The Senior Staff Inc., an online
job bank for older IT workers—that's those who are over age 35. "You
have to keep going back and starting all over again."


But, that said, these workers face an uphill battle, Payson said. "There
are so many ways that companies can try and squirm out of this," he
said.


[Note from NM: At the end of the online version of the article, there
is a Talkbalk section where people can post their comments. There is
also a graph with a sidebar, text portion shown below.]


Technology veterans: Ageism at work


According to a recent eWEEK Reader Poll, about 45 percent of 218
respondents—all of whom are IT professionals—have witnessed age
discrimination in the workplace. Another 64 percent of the people who
responded said they would consider suing the company if they were ever
fired because of wrongful termination. However, about 36 percent of the
respondents cited specifics that must be proved to win the battle.
(Graphic chart removed)