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Intel discriminated against eight older workers in 2015 layoffs, EEOC finds

By Mike Rogoway, oregonlive.com
Published: February 17, 2021, 8:23am

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has concluded that Intel discriminated against eight older workers during mass layoffs in 2015, according to an agency document obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

The commission’s finding follows a five-year investigation triggered by employee complaints, which cited investigations by The Oregonian/OregonLive into Intel’s layoff practices.

“There is reasonable cause to believe that eight individuals over the age of forty (40) were laid off or otherwise separated by Respondent (Intel) in 2015 based on their age and in violation of the” Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the federal commission concluded. The EEOC indicates it is working with Intel to resolve the issues on behalf of the laid-off workers.

The EEOC declined to comment on the case or explain why the investigation took several years, except to note that it has not formally sued Intel. That’s the next step in the commission’s enforcement process.

The commission said federal law prevents it from commenting on cases while investigations are ongoing.

Intel laid off nearly 1,200 U.S. workers in 2015 and cut as many as 15,000 jobs companywide the following year, the biggest downsizing in the company’s history. In each case, analyses by The Oregonian/OregonLive found the cuts were heavily skewed toward older workers.

Intel denied discriminating against older workers in either round of layoffs and reiterated that position Tuesday.

“Personnel decisions in our 2015 and 2016 actions were based solely upon business needs. Factors such as age, race, national origin, gender, immigration status, or other personal demographics were not part of the process when we made these decisions,” Intel said in a written statement.

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“The EEOC has concluded its investigation into our 2015 action,” the company said, “and offered to work with Intel to address its concerns.”

In the 2016 layoffs, workers over age 40 were more than twice as likely to lose their jobs as younger workers. Those over 60 were eight times more likely to be laid off than those under 30.

Former Intel CEO Brian Krzanich initially rebuked employees over their concerns – “this is the way a meritocracy works,” he declared in a 2015 company meeting. But a year later, he admitted the 2016 layoffs were too “harsh and quick,” and had damaged Intel’s relationship with its remaining employees.

Krzanich himself lost his job in 2018, when Intel’s board discovered he had carried on a romantic relationship with an employee in violation of corporate policy. The EEOC’s investigation continued, though, into both the 2015 and 2016 layoffs.

Oregon engineer Ron Tsur, who lost his job in the 2015 layoffs, helped lead the complaint filings that led to the EEOC’s finding – but for some reason the commission did not include him among the eight substantiated discrimination cases.

The EEOC notified him this month that it was dismissing his case but didn’t explain why. A letter the commission sent to him explains that the dismissal doesn’t mean the complaints are meritless, only that it has opted not to pursue his case.

Instead, the EEOC says he may pursue his own lawsuit against the company.

“My case actually exemplifies what’s wrong with the system,” Tsur said.

The investigation moved slowly, he said, the EEOC’s investigators didn’t interview witnesses he cited, and he said that when he talked with the commission’s personnel they were unfamiliar with his case.

“If there were no merit to my case, truly no merit, how come they did not dismiss it – truly dismiss it – for five years and one month? There is some broken logic here,” Tsur said. He said he hasn’t decided whether he will sue Intel himself.

“I think it’s sad,” Tsur said. “Age discrimination is huge, but nobody deals with it.”

The EEOC document indicates only one of the eight cases of alleged age discrimination involved an Oregon employee. Intel is the state’s largest corporate employer, with 21,000 people working at its Washington County campuses.

The EEOC has repeatedly declined to explain why it has taken several years to investigate the allegations against Intel.

However, advocates for older workers say the drawn-out process reflects a chronic failure to investigate and enforce age discrimination in the workplace. They say the commission lacks funding to properly investigate allegations, and that federal law requires a higher standard of proof for age discrimination than discrimination against other protected classes.

Congress and the Oregon Legislature have each considered stronger protections in the past few years, but neither has acted. However, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Beaverton, said Tuesday she is optimistic a bill that passed in the Democratic House last year will fare better in the Senate now that Democrats control that chamber, too.

“Age discrimination is still too prevalent in the workplace,” Bonamici said in a written statement. “My office has been working closely with people who have filed age discrimination complaints, but the burden and outcomes are often very uncertain.

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