BASF
We have entered a lawsuit filed in state court in New Jersey which alleges a nationwide pattern of age discrimination in layoffs from BASF, a major chemical company based in Germany, with North American headquarters located in New Jersey. BASF had approximately 12,000 employees in the United States, and laid-off approximately 1000 employees in 2003-04. Plaintiffs allege that in selecting employees to be laid off, BASF engaged in a pattern of discrimination against workers over age 40.
Among the evidence of age discrimination cited in the Complaint is an explicit plan to discriminate announced by an officer of the company. A senior official was quoted on an internal company website discussing the plans to layoff workers, and stating that he was "committed to making the elderly employees give way to younger people." Pursuant to the policy, hundreds of employees who had been performing their jobs well for BASF lost their jobs.
Plaintiffs expect to ask the court to certify the case as a class action in March 2007.
If you have any information about these practices at BASF, or think that you have been affected by age discrimination at BASF, please contact us by calling 202-408-4600 and leaving a message for Christine E. Webber, or email us at lawinfo@cohenmilstein.com.