I've seen it many times and experienced it, myself. Over time, you get more vacation time, and your salary goes up, your medical insurance becomes more costly. Eventually, you become an expensive target. High on the list when its time to cut costs.
I worked at one place, where they had a pretty blatant purge of older employees. I survived that one, but several years later, when the next came, I was over fifty. One day, they just started calling people into the office. You went in, and they gave you a speech about, "Its not you, its the economy" and handed you a bunch of brochures about job retraining. Just about everyone purged out was over 45. Curiously, on that very day, there was an article in the newspaper about how this very same company was paying out a record settlement in an age discrimination case arising from the earlier purge.
I have often witnessed the way they encourage people to leave by making their jobs miserable. They don't have to pay unemployment or give you severance pay if you quit. I know one super salesman with a wall full of awards. They eventually wanted someone younger, so they just kept increasing his territory, until it was impossible for him to make the drives.
I heard of one case, where they offered someone a job in Alaska. Take it or quit! Yes. Being shunted aside at meetings is a common tactic. Yeah. I know, there are laws, but they have more and better lawyers than the poor soul they are trying to kick out.
I just want to note; that that was all a long time ago. Things may have changed. I am retired almost twenty years now. Happy to be out of it all.:banana:
