Thread regarding IBM layoffs

IBM pulls the same thing in these stinky armpit towns where they setup GDF centers.

IBM is here to stay, give us the red carpet treatment welcome.

Then before you know it, IBM is leaving because all the incentives dried up.

Newsflash IBM, most want you gone at this point.

Another situation where American jobs are being send to India for cheap labor. I pray for those that have lost their jobs. Those that make these will face a judgment from God. May they burn in hell for eternity!

JAMES CASTELLUCCIO, Plaintiff vs INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION, Defendant

Motion To Preclude (Source below)

Facts Leading up to the Open Door Investigation

Mr. Castelluccio was terminated by IBM after 40 years of employment – his entire professional career – when he was 61 years old. For approximately sixteen months prior to his termination in June 2008, Mr. Castelluccio endured repeated acts of unfair treatment by his direct supervisor, Joanne Collins-Smee, ("Ms. Collins-Smee") motivated by age discrimination.

On or around February 22, 2007, in Mr. Castelluccio’s first face-to-face meeting with Ms. Collins-Smee, she began by asking Mr. Castelluccio his age, and then inquired as to whether he was old enough to bridge to retirement. Mr. Castelluccio strongly replied that he had no desire to retire and that he was committed to continuing to work. Despite the clarity of his response, Ms. Collins-Smee pressed Mr. Castelluccio on this question on two other occasions when she was meeting with him alone. At the time of Ms. Collins-Smee’s statements, Mr. Castelluccio had not considered retirement or discussed retirement with his prior supervisors.

It is undisputed that under IBM’s own practices and procedures, it was inappropriate for Ms. Collins-Smee to ask Mr. Castelluccio his age. Indeed, Mr. Castelluccio testified that Ms. Collins-Smee’s conduct, especially after he had emphatically explained he wished to continue working, implied to him that she believed he was too old to do his job.

At the time of Ms. Collins-Smee’s first statement, Mr. Castelluccio was approximately one week shy of his 60th birthday. While under Ms. Collins-Smee’s supervision, Mr. Castelluccio was removed from two positions by her without a single negative performance review. The first position from which Mr. Castelluccio was removed was Vice President of Public Sector Delivery. As the VP of Public Sector, Mr. Castelluccio was responsible for overseeing the delivery of IT service to over thirty 2

1. Case 3:09-cv-01145-TPS Document 155 Filed 11/22/13 Page 3 of 21 IBM accounts. Ms. Collins-Smee determined to remove Mr. Castelluccio from this position in February of 2007, but did not disclose this fact to him until she had hired his successor four months later in June of 2007. Mr. Castelluccio was replaced in this position by Mr. Miguel Echavarria, ("Mr. Echavarria") who at the time was 49 years old.

The second position from which Mr. Castelluccio was removed was Senior Delivery Project Executive (“DPE”) of the WellPoint account. He was first assigned to this position at the same time he was serving as VP of Public Sector. The WellPoint service contract was universally regarded at IBM as a deeply troubled contract on which IBM was losing tens of millions of dollars annually. In addition, Michael Morin (“Mr. Morin”), the DPE assigned to the WellPoint account prior to Mr. Castelluccio, had raised significant concerns about IBM’s handling of the WellPoint account and its failure to allocate the necessary resources for this account.

As a result of the overwhelming strain that the position placed on Mr. Morin, a long-term IBM executive, resigned from IBM on March 20, 2007. Upon Mr. Morin’s resignation, Ms. Collins-Smee instructed Mr. Castelluccio to immediately assume Mr. Morin’s duties on a temporary basis while the search for his replacement ensued. IBM had great difficulty finding an appropriate candidate to replace Mr. Morin. Wellpoint’s CIO, Mark Boxer (“Mr. Boxer”), rejected four executives IBM recommended for the position, all between the ages of 44 and 55, for various reasons, including what he perceived to be a lack of qualifications.

Accordingly, in addition to continuing to serve as VP of Public Sector, Ms. Collins-Smee formally designated Mr. Castelluccio as “acting DPE” for WellPoint in April of 2007. Mr. Castelluccio therefore continued to perform two full-time positions: VP of Public Sector and DPE of WellPoint, throughout April, May and part of June 2007. During this same time period, Mr. Castelluccio was also required to perform substantial (3 - 4. Case 3:09-cv-01145-TPS Document 155 Filed 11/22/13 Page 4 of 21) work on two company-wide workforce reduction initiatives.

These initiatives were complex and required a great deal of his time and energy during April and May of 2007. Ms. Collins-Smee was certainly aware of the extraordinary demands these multiple assignments placed upon Mr. Castelluccio. Indeed, one of her peers counseled Ms. Collins-Smee in an email stating that the work she had assigned to Mr. Castelluccio would cause him to “implode”. As of June 2007, Mr. Castelluccio believed that he had been assigned as the new DPE of WellPoint. However, discovery revealed that his assignment was viewed as “temporary” by Ms. Collins-Smee, IBM and WellPoint.

In early September 2007, IBM considered Gordon Crawford, then 59 years old, for the WellPoint DPE position. WellPoint approved the selection of Mr. Crawford as its new DPE in mid-September 2007, which assignment was to be effective in January of 2008. Again, Ms. Collins-Smee elected not to share this decision with Mr. Castelluccio for months. On or about November 21, 2007, Ms. Collins-Smee informed Mr. Castelluccio for the first time that he was being replaced as DPE of WellPoint. When Mr. Castelluccio asked Ms. Collins-Smee about his future with IBM during this meeting, she again told him that he was eligible to bridge to retirement.

Mr. Castelluccio again informed Ms. Collins-Smee that he wished to continue working, to which Ms. Collins-Smee responded that she would assist him in finding a new position at IBM. As of this date, Mr. Castelluccio was never given another assignment by Ms. Collins-Smee. He was considered “on the bench,” which is the term IBM applies to its executives who do not have a specific role or defined full time responsibility. On or about May 20, 2008, after Ms. Collins-Smee had demonstrated for months that she had no intention of helping Mr. Castelluccio find a position, Ms. Collins-Smee asked Mr. Castelluccio to meet with her.

At this meeting, she informed Mr. Castelluccio that she had (4 5. Case 3:09-cv-01145-TPS Document 155 Filed 11/22/13 Page 5 of 21) decided to terminate him effective June 30, 2008 unless he found a new position within IBM. Ms. Collins-Smee did not indicate that Mr. Castelluccio’s termination was due to poor job performance, in fact, just months prior, Mr. Castelluccio had been given a performance review in which Ms. Collins-Smee awarded him a “2”, designated as a “solid performer.” In this meeting, Ms. Collins-Smee unilaterally raised the issue of retirement and questioned Mr. Castelluccio for a third time about his interest in retiring.

Despite never having received an unfavorable performance review, Mr. Castelluccio’s personnel records created at the time of his termination revealed that the reason for termination was poor job performance, not his alleged failure to find a position. IBM again took this position in its defense of Mr. Castelluccio’s age discrimination complaint filed with the EEOC and the New York Department of Human Rights. Subsequently, IBM revised its story and again claimed to have terminated Mr. Castelluccio for failure to find a position within IBM.

The Open Door Investigation In or about June 2008, Mr. Castelluccio reported to the IBM Human Resources department that he perceived that he was being discriminated against on the basis of his age. (Ex. I). 1 Mr. Russell Mandel (“Mr. Mandel”), IBM’s Consulting Human Resources Professional, conducted an “Open Door” investigation into Mr. Castelluccio’s report of discrimination. According to IBM, “[t]he intent of the [Open Door] process is to ensure an objective and thorough review of the issues. The process will not make legal determinations.

It will, however, determine whether the employee was treated fairly.” (emphasis added)(Ex. A at IBM00094690). At trial, IBM intends to introduce evidence related to the Open Door investigation. (Joint Trial Memorandum dated Sept. 13, 2013, Docket #133). This evidence includes: Mr. Mandel’s handwritten notes of interviews he conducted with IBM employees (Ex. B): Mr. Mandel’s Open ((1 References to Exhibits contained herein are to Exhibits to the Affirmation of Mark R. Carta, filed herewith. (5 6. Case 3:09-cv-01145-TPS Document 155 Filed 11/22/13 Page 6 of 21))) Door Report, which summarizes his investigation and states his findings (Ex. C); and Mr. Mandel’s testimony regarding the investigation and findings. (Joint Trial Memorandum dated Sept. 13, 2013, Docket #133, p. 11).

The Open Door Evidence lacks sufficient indicia of trustworthiness. Not only was it not conducted by a neutral party, but Mr. Mandel had been informed during the investigation by Mr. Castelluccio that he was prepared to take additional action on his age discrimination claim depending on the outcome of the investigation. Although the investigation purported to address the issue of age discrimination, it is almost entirely focused on justifying Ms. Collins-Smee’s prior decision to terminate Mr. Castelluccio.

The notes of his interviews prepared by Mr. Mandel reflect, at best, unreliable hearsay. They are cryptic and are neither acknowledged nor sworn to. As discussed in more detail below, the Open Door Investigation is further tainted by the absence of any proscribed procedures and the selective “evidence” considered by Mr. Mandel. Mr. Mandel did not interview any clients of Mr. Castelluccio’s, nor his previous manager. Mr. Mandel also failed to consider Mr. Castelluccio’s performance review, despite the fact that Mr. Castelluccio had complained that it was not handled properly.

Mr. Mandel also indicated that he would discontinue his investigation if Mr. Castelluccio signed a release in favor of IBM. Finally, although he twice requested the opportunity to meet with Mr. Mandel, Mr. Castelluccio was denied the opportunity to address the criticisms aimed at him.

Also - I find this fascinating:

In over twenty pages of interview notes, that is the only reference arguably related to Mr. Castelluccio’s claim of age discrimination. Neither the phrase “age discrimination” nor the word "age" appears anywhere in Mr. Mandel's notes

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/LoreneSchaefer/castelluccio-v-ibm-plaintiffs-motion-to-preclude

22 years here, and we do this over and over:

promising one thing and doing another

Another example of IBM outsourcing a company and promising one thing and doing another. I was part of the team that structured this deal. Sorry for your job losses. Run from anything to do with IBM.

Because I'm in Europe I can't read this #GDPR