March 28, 2024
A New York federal judge said a lawsuit brought by 16 former workers accusing IBM Corp. of firing older employees to replace them with millennials can proceed despite them not filing the necessary presuit charge with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Vincent L. Briccetti denied IBM’s motion to dismiss the former employees’ Age Discrimination in Employment Act lawsuit. IBM argued that the case must be thrown out because none of the 16 named plaintiffs brought an age discrimination charge to the EEOC before filing the lawsuit, and thus haven’t exhausted their administrative remedies.
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Joseph Sellers, who represents the former workers, told Law360 that they are pleased with the court’s decision.
“With the court’s denial of IBM’s motion to dismiss, they may proceed to prove their layoffs were the result of age discrimination,” Sellers said.
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The former workers are represented by Ashleigh A. Musser of Gibbs Law Group LLP and by Joseph M. Sellers and Michael B. Eisenkraft of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.