Former Yahoo Employee Challenges the Legality of Yahoo's Ranking System (nytimes.com)

whoever57 writes: A former employee of Yahoo is challenging Yahoo's performance review and termination process. The ranking system was introduced to Yahoo by Ms. Mayer on the recommendation of management consultants McKinsey & Co.. Gregory Anderson, an editor who oversaw Yahoo's autos, homes, shopping, small business and travel sites in Sunnyvale, Calif. is claiming that the ranking and termination process was flawed to the extent that the terminations were not based on performance and hence constitute mass layoffs, which require notice periods under both California and Federal law. He is also alleging gender discrimination, under which women were given preferential treatment over men in the hiring, promotions and layoff processes.

Comments

Good luck with that...

[roc97007]

> He is also alleging gender discrimination, under which women were given preferential treatment over men in the hiring, promotions and layoff processes.

That could be long and expensive to prove. I talked to a lawyer recently about "protected classes" (in the context of a large layoff the preponderance of which were over 50). Going from memory (IANAL), the issue comes down to what is a "protected class", which makes suing for discrimination a realistic possibility. Age is indeed a protected class. The female gender is a protected class. Races other than white tend to be protected classes.

Interestingly enough, she said specifically that contractors from India working in the US are a protected class (at least in this state, YMMV) which is why it's so difficult to go after H1B abuses. But that's another story.

Anyway, point is, he's going to have a difficult time (more difficult than this ever is) proving gender discrimination against males.