Visteon Employees File Age Discrimination Suit

A group of white-collar employees who say they were fired from Visteon Corp. because of their age have filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the auto parts supplier.

The lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court by eight plaintiffs age 51 to 58 alleges that Visteon targeted older workers when it fired 1,300 salaried employees this year.

An analysis of the job cuts in about half of the white-collar departments at Visteon showed that workers age 56 or older were five times as likely to be laid off as employees under 40, said Donald J. Gasiorek, the Southfield, Mich.-based lawyer who filed the suit.

“I’m convinced my age is the only reason I was fired,” Terry Kolesar, 54, a former Visteon financial analyst, told the Detroit News. “I was a top performer with a history of excellent job reviews.”

The suit seeks unspecified damages, but the plaintiffs say the amount is likely to total millions of dollars.

Visteon spokeswoman Liane Smyth said Thursday that the firm does not comment on litigation.

When the layoffs were announced, Visteon said the job cuts were part of an overall restructuring at the former Ford Motor Co. parts division. Visteon said employees were evaluated based on how well their skills met the future needs of the company.

The suit is similar to a pair of class-action lawsuits filed this year against Ford. The lawsuits--brought by Ford managers who received poor evaluations and no annual bonuses or pay raises--allege the No. 2 auto maker’s controversial system of ranking managers discriminates against older workers. Ford denies the claims.

As baby boomers enter their golden years, age discrimination claims are on the rise, jumping from 14,141 in fiscal year 1999 to 16,008 in fiscal year 2000, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.