Is discrimination a feature of Intel specifically, or all Silicon Valley
type companies?
> Among the complaints of the Former And Current Employees of Intel...
>
> Age Discrimination.
> 1. At least 9 core members out of 10 in our group are over the age of 40.
> 2. 2 core members were close to retirement age.
> 3. One core member was 61 years old.
> 4. Many of our jobs we believe were filled by younger or contract
> employees.
>
> Medical Disability Discrimination.
> 1. At least 5 core members had some sort of medical disability.
> 2. Rather than accommodate our disability, we were targeted for
> termination.
> 3. Discrimination or Harassment based on Race/Ancestry: 6 out of 10
> core members are either Indian, Japanese American, African American or
> Persian.
>
> Wrongful Termination.
> 1. We have alleged that several of group members were terminated
> because of annual 5% to 15% mandated quota system to weed out the
> targeted "slow performers".
> 2. Many of us received "Corrective Action Plan", a disciplinary
> action plan to perform which we have alleged set unreachable goals.
> 3. Intel constructively and systematically discharged many of the
> core members.
>
> Ken Hamidi, spokesperson for FACEI addressed Intel management during the
> May 22, 1996 Annual Stockholders Meeting with the following question, "
> How downsizing policies and practices of Intel is increasing
> profitability?". Several of the responses from the executive officers
> are worth noting.
>
> Craig Barrett, Intels Chief Operating Officer, replied to the
> downsizing question with, "Half life of an engineer, software,
> hardware engineer is only a few years...". One can infer by his
> remarks why many of our members were targeted for termination, those
> employees who were perceived as beyond the "useful life" for Intel.
> This example shows the philosophy held by Intels executive staff per
> our opinion.
>
> Carlene Ellis, Vice President of Information Technology, sent a
> memorandum to Intel employees in June, 1996. In her memo, she stated, "
> the average age of the Intel employee was approximately 36 in 1990 and
> is approximately 36 in 1996. The NCG program has not changed the age
> fabric of Intel a bit."
>
> The base population ages. It is obvious. An employee who was 30 years
> old in 1990 is 36 in 1996, assuming he or she still has a job at Intel.
> To keep the average age the same after 6 years, as Carlene Ellis claims,
> the older employees have to be displaced by younger employees every
> year, from 1990 to 1996. This cannot be denied. It is plain arithmetic.
> We agree with Carlene Ellis that there is nothing illegal about the NCG
> program. However, the methods of termination and the disposal of older
> employees are questionable at best and illegal at worst. This may be
> evidenced by the number and percentage of FACEI members who are over 40.
>
> Also disturbing, was the misleading memo distributed by Carlene Ellis to
> Intel employees, which deny the practice of weeding out older employees.
> Our membership is just a small sample of terminated employees. How many
> more victims are out there? Only Intel knows for sure but we are
> determined to have this act of discrimination investigated.
----
adam@cs.caltech.edu
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