Question: Ralph Sheehan was an assistant editor at Racing Form, Inc., a publisher that prints horse racing newsletters, programs, and tout sheets. Racing Form decided to computerize its operations, which would eliminate several jobs. The company human resources manager prepared a list of the jobs to be eliminated and the employees occupying those jobs, the jobs to be retained and the employees filling those jobs, and the birth dates of those employees.
Sheehan, age fifty, was informed that his job would be eliminated. He noticed from the listing that most of the employees losing their jobs were older, while those being retained were younger. Sheehan filed an age discrimination complaint and argued that including the employees' birth dates was evidence of age discrimination. Is the court likely to agree with Sheehan? Are there other legitimate reasons for including the employees' birth dates on the listing? Explain. See Sheehan v. Daily Racing Form [104 F.3d 940 (7th Cir. 1997)].