Apple exec sues over 'ageist' removal of $800k stock bonus A 67-year-old director in Apple's Intellectual Property Enforcement unit is suing the company for age discrimination, alleging Apple unfairly took away a special bonus it uses to "retain key employees" in lead positions because of his age. Donald K Shruhan's legal team, citing the infamous internal IBM comms disparaging …
I've done some contracting work at Apple, and one thing I will say is that, at least at the campus I worked at, their workforce was actually quite a bit older than most other places I've worked. Most people seemed to be in their 40s give or take a decade. Some people were obviously older than that.
Not saying that this guy's claims don't have merit, just that of all Apple's workers, even just within Silicon Valley, I have personally seen probably only a tiny fraction. However, compared to places like Google, where they have things like beer kegs and ping pong tables set up as perks, and it seems rare to see someone much over their 30s, Apple's workforce is quite a bit more mature.
The point of the suit is that he's never told Apple when he intends to retire. There is no mandatory retirement in the US in general. Mandatory retirement at a set age was abolished in 1986 by an amendment to the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). There are some exceptions for occupations that have high physical fitness requirements, such as military personnel and airline pilots.
One of my best Systems Engineers is 74 and had no plans to retire anytime soon. I will turn 66 soon and I plan to work well into my 70's. Apple should settle, as if he can document his claims, they don't stand a chance.
Weirdly I saw a post just today on an anonymous network site called Blind
An Apple employee (albeit a lot younger than this) got a decent review but no RSU's and was confused.
The consensus was that they were effectvely flagging they didn't want to keep them and being awarded no RSU's was their way of saying "go away, please"
https://www.teamblind.com/post/Devastated-by-my-comp-review-nZK0ftqY
My late father in law did not want to retire as he enjoyed his work. When he went to HR to enquite how this whole retirement thing worked he was met with bafflement: HR had as yet retired anyone else either, so his question if he could just continue to work was met with relief :).
Sadly he contracted cancer a while later and passed away at 67, but like him I can't see myself really retiring. I'll spend more time doing other things, but I like my work - I'll just get more holidays in between :).
Pretty immune to the corporate BS dont you mean.. we've seen all the lies used to try and get the work done cheaply.... and then get the youngsters going "We developed <super method> of getting things done" only to be told "yeah we used that method 20 years ago until we made something 20% faster and 30% cheaper"
I do try to sugar coat the let down..... but hey its about the only fun us oldies have (along with annoying the hell out of everyone by pretending to be deaf)
I actually enjoy teaching the younglings. The more intelligent ones quickly realise that there is a lot to learn and once you have their attitude adjusted it's quite fun to form a team and see it grow into something bigger than just the sum of its members. If you could tap that energy there would not be an energy shortage.
It helps if you have kids, it's not that different. The only challenge is fighting off the entitled twats that had their way bought through University and have been brought up thinking the world owes them something, but thankfully I now have the job of filtering out the idiots. Very enjoyable indeed :).
The older ones are an excellent source of education for the young ones who come in thinking they know it all. The truly bright ones are quick to realise they (a) have a way to go and (b) can use the more senior people to learn what they need to know, the dumb ones are best let go - they will end up being consultants or work for Microsoft (if the quality of their code is anything to judge by).
“We thought you were going to retire” is a familiar, piss-poor cover for blatant discrimination. It ranks with “the hallway’s not wide enough for a wheelchair,” “your hairstyle violates our grooming standards” and “your lifestyle doesn’t fit our traditional values.”
The Plaintiff is a manager in Apple’s Intellectual Property Enforcement Unit, a haven for pussycats and pushovers. Perfect place to start “right-aging” their workforce.
Maybe I missed it but what does his contract say about RSU's Is he entitled or is it discretionary? If the latter what is Apple telling him?
At one point in my career I worked in a company where everyone got a cost of living increase and a merit increase. One individual (a management accountant) used to arrive late, leave dead on time, wasn't overly competent. He received cost of living with 0% merit increase. Didn't improve his performance but did leave. Maybe its the same here?
Most employment contracts I've seen are generally "See HR handbook for bonuses, incentives and pension plans"
It's also quite hard for a company to argue that certain parts of it's workforce don't qualify for ad-hoc discretionary or incentive awards if those parts of the workforce are legally protected from discrimination.
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