If you know anyone who was laid off, could you share their age - approximately is fine? I suspect older employees were disproportionately affected, and I’d like to confirm whether this pattern holds true or if it’s just specific to my group.
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50; white male. Cargill did a nice CYA job on an individual basis providing a document of peer group impact as part of separation agreements. I’m pretty sure if a diligent tort lawyer pursued it there could be enough meat for an age discrimination lawsuit.
Wouldn’t it be nice ?
Is it time for class action??
20 from my group laid off, 12 of them were over 40, 2 of them were 60
Male, 46
I'm in my 20s, as was another coworker. The others were in their 30s and 40s.
My entire deparment including manager was let go. This was 6 people in total with 5 being over 50 and white males. One over 50 female and 1 45ish male. This reaks of targeting and age discrimination.
Definitely 50 plus, and very punitive/petty if you didn't su-k up to your last manager.
Hi, I'm a journalist working for the Financial Times. I'm trying to get further insights into the layoffs. Drop me an email or a whatsapp if you're happy to speak - can be anonymous! susannah.savage@ft.com +447921138078. Susannah
From another perspective, what if Cargill just has disproportionally older employees as a whole? Not many companies out there have people staying at the same place for 10, 20 or 30 years anymore. More time people stay, less opportunity for newer people to come in. Sure, there is organic team growth, but probably still limited. Or certain teams have more females than males? I'm not saying that's the case, but that could be the optics of how it all panned out with certain groups as emotions are very raw right now. My guess is when looking at the overall layoff globally it is most likely even between all the various criteria utilized to ensure they are following all legal requirements.
Most of the people impacted on my call (DT&D) were white women ages 50-60. I'm curious as well about the numbers...
Mr Attorney, why doesn’t Cargill make public the races, ages, s-xes of those impacted ? If discrimination is unlikely to be proved then there was no discrimination and therefore Cargill had nothing to hide. If they have nothing to hide, they should release information immediately.
Most of the people dismissed in my team are 45 +, very few are less and because of their location not being a hub .basically we are all lay off because we are senior , I guess they think we are too expensive but we do the work of 4 young employees and the work of 10 people at cbs !!! And young people confirmed to stay are freaking out … how they are going to do without guidance from us …. Good luck … will see more frauds in media in 1 year , more complains from customers see McDonald’s complain against sikes that he just ignores and market price agreement and so on …
I was highly suspicious about the age thing when I got let go. In U.S.- If you are over 50, they will include in your package and appendix A that shows positions and ages eliminated in your group plus others to show you it wasn’t age discrimination. Funny enough, I was let go in big group meeting of 30-40 people with our department but they didn’t provide me this required document because according to HR, I wasn’t in a group (I was the only one on my team of 10 let go) so therefore they didn’t have to provide me the list. I guess it is all about how they define “group” which they change based on the circumstance. I did contact a lawyer about it because I’m pretty convinced there were a lot of age discrimination, female as well as white folks that were disproportionally let go. McKinsey did the selection of people based on 14 pieces of criteria…. Income, age, race, location, position levels…. In the end it wasn’t worth not signing the separation contract. Plus the fact that McKinsey was the decision makers and no one at Cargill actually knows the criteria they used, Cargill will just plead ignorance.
How would someone pursuing a discrimination suit become unemployable?
DT&D and 51 years old.
I wonder if some ppl commenting on this post are not McKinsey or EY spying us and trying to discourage others to sue cargill ? They just want their commission
Most are +45 but not only some are youngest
Attorney here looking from the outside in. I know this situation is awful and I was contacted by some employees about potential discrimination. I'd like to anonymously save a lot of headache. Discrimination claims are wildly difficult to prove and take a very long time to pursue. While you are going through the stress of pursuing such a claim, your severance offer will expire and even if you get an attorney to take your case, you will likely lose and then be considered unemployable by other companies.
My advice is to not make the situation more stressful for you than it already is. I am certain a company like Cargill would have covered their bases on the legality of their method. I'd really hate to see someone pass up the severance thinking they can win some big discrimination claim. You will spend years of your life and mental health and likely lose. Try and negotiate your severance if you can but most people are much better off, in their mental health and in their job search, taking the package and moving on.
I am sure someone will comment that I am a mole for Cargill or something but anyone telling you to look into discrimination or not sign the severance has NO IDEA what they are talking about or actually been through that process.
30-60 age range for our site in NA
In the US employees that are over 40 have a right under the OWBP Act to ask for a demographic report for those laid off and those retained in the same job class.
Know your rights, request a report, seek representation.
There was no specific age targeted. I know people who lost their jobs who are in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50, and even early 60s.
With regard to signing away your right to sue... Get legal advice before signing.
Different jurisdictions have different rules around this.
The right to sue may be protected regardless of wording.
The 21 days limit to sign may not be enforceable, etc. (i.e. you may have a right to claim severance for a longer period).
Most of my team was laid off and they were 20s to late 30s
Yes in dt&d lots of people over 50 and most were women
The over 45+ age group was for sure impacted the most, at least in DT&D. Problem is if you want your severance you have to sign away your right to take Cargill to court.
In Brazil the higher proportion was younger people, a lot of associate engineers or trainees were laid off.