Former Facebook employee sues, says he faced age discrimination

Photo: JOSH EDELSON, AFP/Getty Images (FILES) This file photo taken on November 4, 2016 shows the...

A former Facebook employee is suing the Menlo Park social networking firm, saying he was fired after he complained about the company’s treatment of older workers.

Gary Glouner, 52, said in his lawsuit that Facebook had a record of getting rid of employees older than 50 and telling them they were a “poor cultural fit” and they “didn’t move fast enough,” according to City News Service. After they were let go, the older workers would be replaced with younger ones at Facebook, Glouner said in his lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

Gary Glouner Jr., shown in a screenshot from his production...

Glouner did not respond to requests for comment. According to his LinkedIn profile, Glouner began working in global business development and partnerships at Facebook in April 2013. Glouner arrived at Facebook through a circuitous route: He worked for WebFives, a social media startup acquired by Microsoft in 2007. He worked at Microsoft until 2013, when Facebook bought the software company’s Atlas online advertising business. Facebook shut down Atlas in 2016.

In 2015, Glouner had a work injury and later a seizure, City News Service reported. He was later told he was not meeting the expectations of his job while he was on medical leave and was fired in November 2015, City News Service said, citing Glouner’s lawsuit. The former Facebook manager believes he was discriminated against because of his age and disability.

Facebook said Glouner’s complaint is “full of inaccuracies” and that it “worked extensively with Mr. Glouner to accommodate his medical issues.”

“His separation from the company had nothing to do with age, disability or any of the reasons stated in his complaint,” the company said.

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Glouner is also listed on the Team page for Good Message Films, a production company. According to his biography there, Glouner is “from a fourth generation Hollywood film/TV family”; was a child actor on series including “Charlie’s Angels” and “CHiPs”; and later worked on the “Fame” television series. The Internet Movie Database does not have an entry for him.

Facebook is among several Silicon Valley companies that have been accused of discriminating against older employees. But age discrimination can be hard to prove because unlike, race, many tech companies do not release the age demographics of their workforce.

Wendy Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: wlee@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thewendylee