06-18-2024
The AARP Foundation filed suit against Raytheon, a large U.S. defense contractor, alleging the company did not hire Mark Goldstein because of his age. Goldstein applied for many Raytheon positions beginning in 2019 and never received one interview. He has about 40 years of experience in project management, cybersecurity, tech, and other related areas. Goldstein stated he met all the job criteria for the positions, except he is not a recent college graduate and has more than two years of work experience.
The lawsuit asserts Raytheon favors young employees, which is evident from its inclusion of "recent college graduate" or "new graduate" in its job postings. Some posted positions also required less than one or two years of experience. AARP hopes to make the lawsuit a class action on behalf of other individuals "who have seen these ads and not applied" because of the recent graduation or limited experience requirements. In 2021, the EEOC found Raytheon did have a practice of hiring recent college graduates in violation of the ADEA. The public interest attorney representing Goldstein claims Raytheon slightly modified its job postings after the EEOC’s findings. Rather than asking for applicants who graduated within a specific date range, the company asks for one or two years of experience. Goldstein's lawyer asserts that modification does not reflect an actual change to Raytheon's practices.
Raytheon told The Washington Post that Goldstein's claims are "entirely without merit" and the company adheres to all relevant age discrimination laws. In 2023, Raytheon told CNBC that recent college graduates made up about a quarter of its most recent hires.