HP Seeks Dismissal of Age Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit

HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. are asking a federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit that alleges the tech company violates age discrimination laws in their employment practices.

Lead plaintiffs allege in their class action lawsuit that HP and its successor companies engage in age discrimination against employees over the age of 40.

They claim that HP violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act when they tried to overhaul their image to a “younger” company and they were targeted to be laid off due to their age.

The plaintiffs say this occurred when Hewlett Packard was broken up into smaller companies and layoffs and pushes toward early retirement ensued.

Hewlett Packard claimed in their motion to dismiss the class action that the plaintiffs have no standing to bring the claims. The defendants point out that three of the four named plaintiffs were not actually employed by Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. They also contend that the fourth plaintiff failed to establish HP Inc. injured her in any way in the complaint.

According to the motion to dismiss, the plaintiffs’ claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act are not adequate because they do not establish that the company discriminated against employees based on their age under the workforce reduction plan.

“The gravamen of the complaint alleges that defendants discriminated against older workers in selecting employees for termination under a [workforce reduction] plan,” contend the defendants in their motion to dismiss. “Plaintiffs also allege, under a ‘disparate impact’ theory of discrimination, that the [workforce reduction plan] disproportionately affected older workers. However, no specific employment practice, neutral on its face, is identified in the complaint.”

HP is also arguing that one of the plaintiffs, Donna Forsyth, did not exhaust all of her other potential remedies before bringing the class action lawsuit.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs allege that HP developed a workforce reduction plan in 2012 that included a goal to make the company “younger.” Under the plan, the plaintiffs allege that they and other employees were targeted for layoffs and early retirement programs.

According to the class action complaint, HP’s CEO made numerous public statements indicating the company was looking to hire younger people. The plaintiffs also allege that management organized the layoffs to target older employees and replace them with recent college graduates.

The workers are represented by Jennie Lee Anderson of Andrus Anderson LLP, Douglas P. Dehler and Paul W. Zimmer of O’Neil Cannon Hollman Dejong & Laing SC; Bruse Loyd of Jones Gillaspia & Loyd LLP and Brian H. Mahany of Mahany Law.

The HP Age Discrimination Class Action Lawsuit is Donna J. Forsyth, et al. v. HP Inc., et al., Case No. 5:16-cv-04775, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.