The Complaint

On December 20, 2017, the Communications Workers of America and three workers filed an age discrimination class action lawsuit against T-Mobile US, Inc., Amazon.com, Inc., Cox Communications, Inc., and Cox Media Group, LLC (collectively, “Defendants”) and a defendant class of hundreds of major American employers and employment agencies.  The complaint alleges that these employers and employment agencies engaged in the unlawful practice of excluding older workers from receiving job ads on Facebook for open positions at their companies. Here you can find legal help regarding strong armed robbery

The lawsuit, which challenges how Facebook’s paid ad platform is allegedly being used to hide job ads and opportunities from older workers nationally, has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. 

In the Complaint, CWA and the workers allege that, through an in-depth investigation, they have discovered that hundreds of employers and employment agencies are illegally targeting their employment ads on Facebook to exclude older workers who fall outside specified age ranges (such as ages 18 to 40, or ages 22 to 45), purposely preventing these older workers from seeing the ads or pursuing job opportunities.  The Complaint alleges that this practice constitutes a violation of federal, state, and local laws that bar age discrimination in employment advertising, recruiting, and hiring.

The Plaintiffs aim to represent millions of job seekers, age 40 and older, who have been denied the ability to even learn of potential job openings.

The defendants are large employers and employment agencies—who employ or refer 2,500 workers or more each year—in all industries, including technology, entertainment, retail, health care, energy, real estate, and staffing firms and agencies.

The Plaintiffs are represented by Outten & Golden LLP, an employment and civil rights law firm with 60-plus attorneys and offices in New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, and Chicago.  The lawyers on this case include: David Lopez, who served as the General Counsel of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2010 to 2016; Adam Klein, the head of the firm’s Class Action Practice Group; and Peter Romer-Friedman, who served as labor counsel to former Senate Labor Committee Chairman Edward M. Kennedy, a co-sponsor of the ADEA.

CWA, the workers, and their attorneys are asking the Court to:

●     Declare that the practice of excluding older workers from receiving job ads on Facebook violates laws that prohibit age discrimination in employment.

●     Issue an injunction to stop T-Mobile, Amazon, Cox, and all other large employers and employment agencies from continuing to engage in acts that violate anti-discrimination laws.

●     Require the defendants to compensate older workers who have been denied job opportunities.

The action is known as Communications Workers of America et al. v. T-Mobile US, Inc. et al., and is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

The Goal of the Lawsuit

The class action seeks to end the practice of employers and employment agencies excluding older workers from receiving employment ads via Facebook based on their age, as well as compensation for workers who have been harmed by this practice. 

What You Can Do to Help

If you are 40-years-old or older, have a Facebook account, and have looked for a job in the last several years, please contact us by filling out the Contact Us form on this web site.  You may be a member of the proposed class in this lawsuit.  

If you would like to know more about your rights, we would be happy to speak with you.  Please email , or call for more information.