Age Discrimination Accusations on Google

In July, Google had settled a class-action, age discrimination lawsuit. Google settled an age discrimination law suit where more than 200 job seekers over the age of 40 who applied for positions at Google will receive a settlement of $11 million.

Consequently Google was forced to train employees and management about age bias, form a committee focused on age diversity and ensure that age-related complaints are fully investigated to comply with the settlement terms.

Now, after two months, Google is facing similar allegations. A legal complaint was filed by one Rodney Broome in Santa Clara County Superior Court. He accused Google of age discrimination and harassment. The claimant asserted that Google and one of its managers allegedly engaged in age discrimination. It is alleged in the complaint that Ignaciao Mendez – the concerned supervisor was accused of executing a campaign of harassment against the 72-year-old Broome and intentionally inflicted emotional distress on him because of his age.

Broome’s career at Google began in 2007 in the company’s Lego Labs as a hardware test engineer for platform engineering. In 2017 Broome started reporting to a new supervisor, Ignacio Mendez.

Documents filed with the Superior Court of California, Santa Clara, alleged Mendez immediately began a campaign of harassment against 72-year-old Broome. It was alleged that Mendez called Broome as “old and slow” and “grandpa”. According to the suit, Mendez allegedly mentioned to Broome that he might encounter car trouble. Co-incidentally, the complainant’s car and house were broken into. According to court filings, it was alleged that Mendez boasted about his criminal connections.

Mendez has been accused of giving Broome impossible tasks to humiliate him and admonishing people who tried to help him complete them.

It was further alleged that Broome complained to the human resources but to no avail. The complaint reflects that the harassment intensified. After Broome complained to his manager’s supervisor, Mendez retaliated with poor performance reviews, cut his bonuses and offered his job to two younger employees. After receiving a written warning, Mendez accused Broome of “ratting him out”. Moreover, the complainant was put on a personal performance improvement plan.

Subsequent to physical confrontations and continued alleged harassment Broome resigned in February 2019. His lawyer claims that the case is a blatant case of age discrimination and part of a pattern of discrimination and harassment due to the company’s youthful culture.

Broome is requesting general and punitive damages and a jury trial.