Taylor was hired by Twitter in January 2011 as the manager of data center deployment. His responsibilities included managing the expansion and critical operations of Twitter's data centers. He was paid a salary and also granted substantial stock options.
According to the complaint, Taylor saved Twitter over 10 million dollars in the expansions of the data centers, was on their critical talent list, and received 20,000 Restricted Stock Units as a reward for his performance. Twitter evaluated his performance as meeting or exceeding expectations throughout his employment.
Taylor was fired on September 23, 2013, when he was 57 years old. He had been granted the stock units just six months prior to that date, and had received a meets-expectations evaluation just six weeks before then. According to the complaint, "he was terminated without warning, without notice, without explanation, and without an opportunity to discuss any concerns defendants might have". His supervisor had made at least one critical remark about his age, and the persons Twitter employed in positions similar to his position were in their 20s and 30s.
The lawsuit also alleges Twitter discriminated against Taylor for a disability in addition to his age. Taylor had surgery to remove kidney stones in April 2013, but scheduled his surgery and doctor visits so that he still worked full time for Twitter, although he spent less time on the work than he did normally. According to the complaint, he told his supervisors about his physical disability and requested that they assign additional persons to help him with his responsibilities. However, rather than accommodate his request by assigning him more workers, Twitter assigned him additional work and demanded that he complete the work while he was disabled.
By failing to engage in an interactive process regarding an accommodation of his disability, and by terminating him, Twitter engaged in disability discrimination. Taylor filed a complaint with the California Fair Employment and Housing Administration alleging unlawful disability discrimination. The agency issued a right to sue letter last month.
Age discrimination involves treating someone (an applicant or employee) less favorably because of his age. The law forbids discrimination when it comes to any aspect of employment, including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, fringe benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.
Davida Perry and Brian Heller of Schwartz Perry & Heller LLP will be offering an online seminar entitled Ageism in Employment: A High-Tech Trend? this Thursday July 24 th from 11am to 12pm ET. To register, go to http://westlegaledcenter.com/program_guide/course_detail.jsf?videoCourseId=100026571&ADMIN_PREVIEW=true