Age Discrimination

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to consider an appeal brought by a group of IBM Corp. employees who accused the company of age discrimination when it altered its pension plan. The lawsuit could have cost the company $1.4 billion. Kathi Cooper, a former IBM employee, served as the lead plaintiff in a class-action suit brought on behalf of 250,000 current and former IBM workers.

The Los Angeles City Council voted 10 to 1 on Wednesday to settle with one plaintiff in another lawsuit involving allegations of discrimination by the Fire Department. The $350,000 settlement will go to Gary Mellinger, one of three firefighters who in 2005 filed a lawsuit alleging that they were the subject of age or racial discrimination and subsequently forced from their jobs. The council acted two days after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vetoed a $2.

IBM Corp. did not commit age discrimination when it changed its pension coverage in the 1990s, a federal appeals court ruled Monday in an influential case that Big Blue had agreed to settle for as much as $1.4 billion if it had lost the appeal. The case involved 140,000 older employees who were affected when IBM converted to a so-called cash-balance plan, which gives workers virtual accounts that can be cashed out for a lump sum when they leave the company.

A Los Angeles psychologist who was denied a tote bag during a Mother's Day giveaway at an Angel game is suing the baseball team, alleging sex and age discrimination. Michael Cohn's class-action claim in Orange County Superior Court alleges that thousands of males and fans under 18 were "treated unequally" at a "Family Sunday" promotion last May and are entitled to $4,000 each in damages. The targets of the suit are the team and the Corinthian Colleges.

Comedian Marty Ingels has suffered another legal setback in his age-discrimination dispute with syndicated radio talk-show host Tom Leykis. The California Supreme Court, without comment, declined last week to hear Ingels' appeal of two lower-court rulings that went against the comedian.

A Los Angeles jury has awarded $20 million to an 85-year-old man who said he was forced to retire as chief physician and surgeon at Lancaster state prison because of his age. The award included $1.6 million in past and future lost earnings, an indication that jurors believed a plaintiff's expert who testified at trial that Dr. Robert Johnson could have worked until he was 96.

Throughout American history there have been landmark court decisions that have shaped a nation and a society: Marbury vs. Madison. Plessy vs. Ferguson. Miranda vs. Arizona. But is America ready for Marty Ingels vs. Tom Leykis?

Regarding "It's Out With the Old as CBS Cancels 4 Shows," (May 19): As one who is well beyond advertisers' desired demographic, CBS' moves to drop their quality shows are taken more as a compliment than age discrimination. Advertisers desire careless spenders. To those of us with kids grown and established, homes paid for and a little security, the fact that advertisers don't consider us sucker bait is a tribute. But where are the quality shows going to come from? Certainly not the networks.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday gave workers age 40 and older greater rights to sue an employer for age discrimination, even if there was no evidence that such bias was intentional. The 5-3 ruling expands the reach of federal law against age discrimination by opening the door to lawsuits involving rules and requirements that do not mention the age of employees. The decision affects about 75 million workers -- more than half the nation's labor force, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has charged one of the nation's largest law firms with age discrimination, contending that it violated the law by forcing out older partners. Legal experts said the case could have major ramifications for the legal business, which has changed dramatically in recent years.