Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Hiring Practices Alleged to Favor Millennials

Employment Law

A class action lawsuit filed this week against PricewaterhouseCoopers seeks to end allegedly "discriminatory policies, patterns, and/or practices" which it claims favor millennials and "systematically exclude and deter applicants and prospective applicants ages 40 and older."  According to the lawsuit, PwC's hiring tactics violate both the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and California's Fair Employment and Housing Act.  In recent years, PwC has positioned itself as a thought leader in attracting and retaining millennials with a widely cited 2013 report and a variety of other publications.  "PwC's hiring practices offer equal opportunity to all applicants," a PwC spokesperson said in a statement, "and the firm devotes enormous resources to recruiting a diverse workforce.  Like most employers, PwC recruits at the nation's colleges and universities and the firm hires individuals at all experience levels and across the age spectrum."  The lawsuit is being filed at a time when new census data reports that millennials have now passed baby boomers as the largest generation in the United States, with 75.4 million Americans having been born between 1981 and 1997.  By 2020, millennials are expected to form a majority of the workforce.