Amazon Asks Judge To Throw Out Facebook Job Ad Age Bias Class Action

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Amazon.com Inc. has 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.

Amazon claims that plaintiff Communications Workers of America lacks standing to sue and that the named plaintiffs only showed that they have standing for Ohio state law claims, and therefore lack standing to assert state law claims under the laws of any state other than Ohio.

Further, CWA allegedly failed to show that the union’s members would have had standing to sue Amazon themselves, and therefore CWA could not assert standing on their behalf, Amazon argues.

According to Amazon, CWA and the two named plaintiffs are asking the court “to adjudicate a nationwide class action pitting a putative class of ‘millions’ of Americans–nearly everyone over the age of 40 with a Facebook account–against a putative defendant class of ‘hundreds of major American employers and employment agencies.’”

Amazon also claims that the Facebook job ad class action lawsuit failed to show that CWA, its members, or the plaintiffs had a “real, present interest” in Amazon job postings on Facebook. As a result, they lack standing to bring their federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act claims, Amazon says.

“This unwieldy and improper lawsuit cannot proceed,” Amazon argues.

The Facebook job ad class action lawsuit alleges that job postings from many major companies including Amazon, Cox Communications and T-Mobile discriminate based on age.

The plaintiffs claim hundreds of corporations violate the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act by targeting certain jobs to Facebook users under the age of 40.’

According to the Facebook job ad class action lawsuit, the companies discriminate against older workers by choosing to target their employment advertisements to younger Facebook users.

The plaintiffs point to an ad by T-Mobile for which a user was targeted because T-Mobile “wants to reach people ages 13 to 38 who live or were recently in the United States.”

The plaintiffs claim that these ads are discriminatory to older workers because the advertisements are targeted towards younger workers, and thus older workers do not have the opportunity to view them and learn about potential jobs.

The Facebook job ad class action lawsuit seeks an injunction prohibiting companies from unlawfully discriminating against workers based on age. The plaintiffs also seek relief for workers who have been harmed by these allegedly discriminatory practices.

In its motion to dismiss the Facebook job ad class action lawsuit, Amazon argues that the plaintiffs never applied for a job with the retailer and have not alleged that the company engages in discrimination against its employees.

Further, the plaintiffs did not plausibly allege that the use of age filters for Facebook job ads actually had a disparate impact.

Amazon states that the plaintiffs’ claims fail as a matter of law and that, therefore, the Facebook job ad class action lawsuit should be dismissed.

The plaintiffs are represented by Patricia Shea and Katherine A. Roe and by Jahan C. Sagafi, P. David Lopez, Peter Romer-Friedman, Adam T. Klein, Robert N. Fisher and Jared W. Goldman of Outten & Golden LLP.

The Facebook Job Ad 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 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 2: 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.