Google ordered to defend against age bias lawsuit

The California Supreme Court unanimously agreed that a trial court erred in dismissing a complaint by Brian Reid, who was hired in 2002 as a director of operations and engineering, and fired less than two years later at age 54 after being told he was not a good "cultural fit."

Thursday's ruling upheld a state appeals court decision that the trial court erred in dismissing the lawsuit, and said the trial court should have considered "stray remarks" from Reid's colleagues, including that he was an "old man" and "old fuddy-duddy," that might be seen as evidence of bias.

The ruling means the case returns to the trial court.

"Brian Reid was not laid off based on his age," said Andrew Pederson, a spokesman for Mountain View, California-based Google, in an emailed statement. "We look forward to demonstrating in court the legitimate, nondiscriminatory reasons why Mr. Reid was let go."

(...) Reid is a former associate professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University who had helped develop the AltaVista search engine.

He had alleged that while at Google, he was subjected to put-downs by a 38-year-old vice president who told him his ideas were "obsolete" and "too old to matter," and that he was "slow," "fuzzy," "sluggish" and "lethargic."

The plaintiff also said other colleagues made fun of his age, including a joke that a CD jewel case used as his office placard should instead be an "LP," court records show.