Amazon, T-Mobile, Cox Sued Over Age Bias Facebook Job Ads

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

T-Mobile, Amazon, and Cox Communications were hit with a class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination based on hiring ads targeted at users under 40.

The Communications Workers of America claim targeted Facebook ads that allow companies to tailor their audience to younger workers discriminate and use of this targeting violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

According to the class action, Facebook allows advertisers to target their ads to a smaller audience, but the four named defendants along with hundreds of other companies did that illegally when they used Facebook ads to target users under 40.

“When selecting the population of Facebook users who will receive employment ads, employers and employment agencies routinely focus their ads on prospective applicants who are in age bands that exclude many workers who are 40-years-old or greater, e.g., workers who are ‘ages 18 to 38,’ ‘ages 22 to 45,’ or ‘ages 21 to 55,’ thereby preventing older workers from receiving advertising and recruitment for job opportunities,” states the class action lawsuit.

Although only four companies are named as defendants in the class action, Amazon, T-Mobile, Cox Communications, and Cox Media Group, hundreds of others could be added for their use of social media messaging.

“Due to this lawsuit, older workers may finally understand why their job searches — that have migrated online in recent years — are more difficult than they ought to be,” states the complaint. “In fact, their job searches are more difficult than our country’s antidiscrimination laws allow. If this lawsuit succeeds, American workers’ job searches may be a lot easier in the future.”

Facebook is not named as a defendant to the class action lawsuit, but the vice president of Ads at Facebook states that it rejects the allegations that the ads discriminate. He also noted that companies can place employment ads in certain magazines and on television shows based on the audience.

“What matters is that marketing is broadly based and inclusive, not simply focused on a particular age group,” noted the statement from Facebook. “In addition, certain employers want to attract retirees, or recruit for jobs with specific age restrictions like the military or airline pilots.”

According to the class action lawsuit, however, age discrimination is an “entrenched facet of the American workplace.”

“Upon information and belief, nationwide, large and small employers alike apparently believe that it is appropriate and desirable to exclude American workers from job opportunities solely based on their age,” the class action lawsuit states.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction against the defendants from using age targeted employment ads. Also, noting that the damage to older workers who missed out on job opportunities has already been done, the plaintiffs are seeking damages on behalf of the proposed Class.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jahan C. Sagafi, P. David Lopez, Peter Romer­-Friedman, Adam T. Klein, Robert N. Fisher and Jared W. Goldman of Outten & Golden LLP and Guerino J. Calemine III and Katherine A. Roe of the Communications Workers of America.

The Amazon, T-Mobile, Cox Age Bias Class Action Lawsuit is Communications Workers of America, et al. v. T­-Mobile US Inc., et al., Case No. 5:17-­cv-­07232, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: On May 29, 2018, an amended class action lawsuit was filed that claims Facebook’s job ads from many major companies including T-Mobile, Amazon, Cox Communications Inc., are discriminatory based on age.

UPDATE 2: On July 30, 2018, Amazon filed a motion to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging it violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by using Facebook job ads that target younger workers.

UPDATE 3: On Oct. 11, 2018, Amazon filed another dismissal motion, aiming to escape a class action in California federal court which accuses the company of placing Facebook job ads which are hidden from older workers.

UPDATE 4: On Jan. 16, 2019, Amazon asked a federal court to dismiss a class action lawsuit that claims the online retailer intentionally blocks older workers from seeing job advertisements on Facebook.