Judge certifies Workday class action over alleged age-based job rejects

Workday ‘ageism’ class action overview: 

• Who: A California federal judge certified a class action lawsuit filed by Derek L. Mobley against Workday Inc. 
• Why: Mobley argues Workday uses an applicant screening process that disproportionately disqualifies people over the age of 40. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was certified in California federal court. 

A California federal judge has certified a class action lawsuit filed against Workday over claims it uses a proprietary screening process for job applicants that disproportionately disqualifies applicants over the age of 40.

Plaintiff Derek L. Mobley and other plaintiffs claim they all submitted hundreds of employment applications to prospective employers at an URL ending with “@myworkday.com,” and that each time their employment application was rejected, sometimes within minutes. 

Mobley and the group asked the California federal court to certify the proposed class under the  Fair Labor Standards Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). 

Mobley and the group argue that, since Workday is in charge of the screening process, that it is reasonable to attribute any “systematic disparate impact” in the scoring of applicants to its policy of using algorithmic decision making tools. 

“This causal connection is unsurprising: algorithmic decision-making tools have been known to cause disparate impact in scoring applications,” the Workday class action states.

Plaintiffs claim negative impacts due to alleged Workday discrimination

Mobley and the group claim applicants over the age of 40 are more likely to be denied jobs, due to their applications allegedly being more likely to be flagged for rejection. 

“As a result, those over 40 experience significantly greater rates of rejection for employment which negatively impacts their career prospects, earnings, and quality of life,” the Workday class action states. 

Mobley and the group argued that since they were all allegedly denied employment because of Workday’s algorithmic decision-making tools and, therefore, as a group of individuals they were victims of a “common policy or practice.” 

The plaintiffs request an award of decelary, injunctive relief and “objectively-based” back pay for themselves and all class members. 

In other discrimination allegations, a former IBM employee filed a class action last year over claims the company discriminated against him as a white man and unlawfully terminated him. 

Have you been discriminated against by Workday’s job application screening process? Let us know in the comments.

The plaintiffs are represented by Lee D. Winston and Roderick T. Cooks of Winston Cooks, LLC, Jay Greene of Greene Estate, Probate, and Elder Law Firm and Robert L. Wiggins, Jr. of Wiggins Childs Pantazis Fisher & Goldfarb, LLC.

The Workday discrimination class action lawsuit is Mobley, et al. v. Workday Inc., Case No. 3:23-cv-00770, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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