[credit_guy]

The severance package is proportional with the length of employment at GM, which is highly correlated with the age. In this country you can't discriminate based on age, so this is a legal way to thin out the ranks of the older employees.

[rkangel]

As an aside, in the UK and EU you also can't discriminate based on age, but that means that you can't do anything based on length of service. For example, it is illegal to place a job advert requiring "x years of experience in z" because that requires you to be a certain age.

[thfuran]

Yeah, the US actually has "people over 40" as a protected class rather than outright banning discrimination based on age.

[jalk]

Perhaps not with a specific number of years, but you are certainly not obliged to consider every recent graduate who applies for your senior position

[rkangel]

No, but you have to look for (and talk in terms of) actual level of capability rather than just "you've done it for a while".

[chii]

> thin out the ranks of the older employees.

so is this desirable to the company because older aged workers aren't as productive as a younger person? I would've imagined that in most skilled trade, experience accounts for a lot.

[credit_guy]

The article states that this offer is for the white-collar employees

  General Motors will offer voluntary buyouts to a “majority” of its U.S. white-collar employees, according to a letter sent to workers Thursday from CEO Mary Barra.

[SkyPuncher]

Older workers tend to be more expensive because of their experience.

This is also a way to "encourage" those considering retirement to do it on your terms.

[red-iron-pine]

Lowering salaries. You're not paying Boomer rates to experience folks, you're paying Zoomer rates to noobs, and automating or offshoring the rest.

[s3p]

Maybe. Neither you nor OP nor I know.

[dragonwriter]

> In this country you can't discriminate based on age

You can’t legally discriminate against people because of age over 40; otherwise age discrimination is legal.

Also, most forms of illegal discrimination are routine, much of the work of HR and management training in regard to discrimination exists to make sure that hiring managers know what domcumentation needs to reflect irrespective of the true basis of personnel decisions so that illegal discrimination is difficult to prove (that’s not how it is framed, of course, because the training itself is part of the record.)