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Water-cooler gossip, Facebook postings and jokes at company picnics are often viewed by employees as harmless fun. But now, those comments could end up in court as evidence if a company gets sued for workplace discrimination.

The change, stemming from a recent California Supreme Court ruling, could also create more work for attorneys who practice employment law because more lawsuits could be filed and discrimination cases could take longer to work through the legal system.

The state’s highest court on Aug. 5 ruled that an age-discrimination lawsuit against Google Inc. could go to trial. The suit was filed by Brian Reid, a former Google engineering director who alleges he was fired after a supervisor and co-workers made age-related comments to him.

Among other things, he was allegedly told his ideas were "obsolete" and “too old to matter,” and that he was "slow," “lethargic” and an "old fuddy-duddy."

Silicon Valley employment lawyers said the key part of the court’s 43-page ruling is that it allows new evidence into workplace discrimination cases — namely, passive-aggressive comments from random co-workers that, for example, mock someone’s age or nationality.

Previously, such comments would be considered in a case only if a high-level employee made them while, say, firing or demoting someone. If not, a lawsuit could be quickly tossed out.

Read more :Google's age discrimination lawsuit may bring more work for lawyers - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal

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