‘Apple Ageism’: 67-YO Employee Sues Tech Giant, Alleges He Was Denied $800,000 Retention Bonus

A senior manager has sued tech giant Apple?claiming that he was denied a retention bonus of at least $800,000 because at the age of 64 he was no longer seen “as part of Apple’s future.”

Apple Sued For Allegedly Denying Employee $800,000 Retention Bonus

Donald Shruhan Jr., who has worked for Apple since 2008 and is now aged 67, alleges in a lawsuit filed last Monday in federal court in San Jose, California, that he wasn’t awarded restricted stock units or a merit increase in 2019 even though he was given an excellent performance review. 67-YO Shruhan Jr. claims he was asked last year to submit his plan for retirement, although he hadn’t indicated any such move, Bloomberg reports.

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“This was an age-based assumption on the decision maker's part, with no basis in fact,” he argues. At the same time, Apple aimed to demote him, according to the complaint.

Shruhan Jr. says he’s a victim of discrimination against older workers in Silicon Valley, which is “obsessed with youth.” Citing a 2015 Payscale survey, he says that while the median age of a US worker is 42, it is 31 at Apple,

Shruhan Jr. is a director in Apple’s Intellectual Property Enforcement unit, where he has managed efforts to combat counterfeiting in the Asia-Pacific region and has also served as a veteran senior manager on Apple’s global security team, he said, the report went on.

In the two preceding years after Shruhan earned excellent reviews, he was reportedly granted restricted stock units valued at $850,000 and $800,000, he claims. For 2019, Apple said he wouldn’t get his RSUs because they’re meant to be “an investment in the future and a retention hook,” according to his lawsuit.? The case is Shruhan v. Apple, 22-cv-05481, US District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

A supervisor’s response to his inquiry revealed that Apple apparently no longer saw a need to incentivize him

According to the suit, this was because he was nearing retirement age,?

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Also Read:?How A Lost iPhone Led To Warren Buffett Investing Billions In?Apple?

Also, Shruhan said he had reached an impasse with Apple’s human resources department before suing. He seeks unspecified monetary damages for emotional distress, as well as a civil penalty against Apple under California’s unfair competition law, the report mentioned.

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