Carrier Global Corp. and Brian Kime, its former associate director of threat intelligence, have reached a private settlement in his Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) suit. Kime contended that his 2024 layoff, which occurred alongside other workers over age 40, was illegal age discrimination after the company replaced him with a younger worker. The case is Kime v. Carrier Corp., Case Number 1:26-cv-01125, U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The company hired Kime in February 2023 as an associate cybersecurity director. Kime filed an anonymous ethics complaint in August 2024, alleging that one of his superiors had submitted fictitious performance metrics. At the time, he feared the company would trace the complaint back to him, since only two people could have been involved in one incident. That same superior ultimately terminated him, along with the chief information security officer, who had refused to support the October 2024 layoffs of Kime and seven other cybersecurity employees. Kime, 45 at the time of his layoff, claimed the company cited no performance deficiencies.
In his lawsuit, Kime alleged that Carrier Global had retaliated against him for the ethics complaint and violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by hiring a younger worker to replace him. Although the company argued that it filled the role as part of its restructuring, Kime pointed out that Carrier Global replaced him within six months, even after telling him and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that it had eliminated his position.
Furthermore, Kime claimed that his separation documents, some of which were required by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA), had multiple errors. According to Kime, Carrier Global admitted the errors in its OWBPA disclosure, and that its subsequently corrected documents still contained errors.
Carrier Global denied any violations of the law, claiming it terminated Kime as part of a legitimate, nondiscriminatory company restructuring. The company further contended that its cybersecurity unit, subject to layoffs, had two employees under 40 out of 46 workers.
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