Richard Walstrom said that he sensed something was wrong during a job fair in May, when he saw some of his IT co-workers who had also recently been told by Best Buy Co. that they were losing their jobs.
“There were a high percentage of people with gray hair,” said Walstrom, who’s 57. “It was a lot of us. I didn’t really realize what had happened until you look around and say, ‘What’s wrong with this picture?’ ”
Walstrom was one of 44 former Best Buy IT workers who filed a class-action lawsuit last Wednesday claiming that the Richfield, Minn.-based electronics retailer engaged in a pattern of age discrimination in terminating their jobs. The plaintiffs range from 40 to 71 years old, and their average age is 51, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Minnesota.