Hewlett-Packard facing age discrimination lawsuit
Four former employees taking action against the tech giant after being laid off
Updated : 12:07
Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and HP Inc., the two branches formed after the breakup of Hewlett-PAckard last autumn, have been taken to court by four former employees in an age discrimination case.
The suit was filed in San Jose, California and it alleges violations of state and federal laws on discrimination. The former employees are also seeking class-action for others that were laid off at the time.
The company split into distinct entities in 2015, with HP Enterprise selling servers and software, while HP Inc. deals with hardware products.
The case refers to comments made by former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Meg Whitman in which she spoke of the aim of "recalibrating" its workforce to include younger employees.
A spokesperson for the company said in an emailed statement that ithad lways strived to honour equal employment legislation.
“The decision to implement a workforce reduction is always difficult, but we are confident that our decisions were based on legitimate factors unrelated to age," said the statement.