Former IBM senior portfolio marketing professional Jack Verdins is demanding $347,889 in compensation after being made redundant following a 36-year career with the company.
IBM handed Verdins his notice on 7 March, saying a restructure of the marketing and communications business was necessary and his position of senior portfolio marketing professional would no longer be required, effective 31 May. Verdins was 63 at the time of termination.
In documents filed with the Federal Circuit Court in Melbourne, Verdins alleged "inconsistencies" from IBM, which he said first told him the role was being moved offshore to India, then later said it would be absorbed into the local team.
Verdins has argued there was ongoing work in his area of "cloud data services" and believes age was a factor in the redundancy. He is requesting an enhanced redundancy payment of up to 104 weeks, which amounts to $347,889, beyond the 16 weeks already paid out.
IBM denied it contravened the Fair Work Act and said Verdins is not entitled to additional redunancy payments. The company will file its defence by 16 November 2016. Mediation will be held on 16 December, with the case to be heard next March.
CRN contacted both parties for comment.
Rumours of IBM staff losing jobs have been widely reported in the past years. In January 2015, The Australian claimed that 400 employees may have had their positions affected by a "restructure".
In 2013, the ABC wrote about "several hundred" of IBM's Australian workers being laid off with another 1000 jobs to be slashed in the beginning of 2014.
In 2015, IBM Australia reported stable revenue at $3.5 billion but net profit fell 60 percent to $53.3 million from $145 million in the previous year.
Worldwide, the vendor has been performing poorly, with revenue dropping every year since 2011, when the company posted a total revenue of US$106.9 billion. In 2015, the vendor posted $81.7 billion revenue.
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