Dive Brief:
- A former Zillow sales executive — a 43-year-old White man — alleged the company discriminated against him due to his age, sex and race, amounting to violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, per court documents filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado on Aug. 5. He also alleged violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- The plaintiff worked in several sales-related roles at Zillow from 2018 to 2025 and contributed to a high-achieving team that gained various accolades, according to the complaint filed in Brantley v. Zillow Group, Inc. In contrast with this performance, the plaintiff was allegedly denied promotion opportunities, which were in turn “given to less-qualified candidates outside his protected class.” He also claimed that he was subject to age-based mockery.
- The plaintiff took medical leave in September 2025, after a panic attack allegedly prompted by receiving a sudden job-in-jeopardy notice. Right before he returned to work, he filed an official complaint of retaliation, hostile work environment and discrimination. He was fired the next day.
Dive Insight:
The complaint alleges a series of vivid, age-based acts of mockery. For example, the plaintiff’s supervisor would play a song at the start of team meetings and ask team members to identify the song. When the plaintiff’s turn came, his supervisor would allegedly state, “Ah, you’re too old to know this.” The complaint noted events such as this would occur weekly.
Additionally, when the plaintiff’s co-workers would change their hairstyles, the plaintiff’s supervisor would say to him, “Don’t you wish you could do that… ?” or “You should shave it bald like [the plaintiff] for the upkeep.” The plaintiff posted an article about appearance-based harassment in Slack; the court complaint noted, “This post constituted a formal, documented, written complaint of harassment directed to [the supervisor] and placed in a company communication channel.”
There was also an incident where the team wore shirts with the plaintiff on them, reading “and [the plaintiff’s name],” which was a nod to the supervisor allegedly always leaving the plaintiff out of recognition of team successes. The shirts were worn during a company meeting; the complaint alleges that this was a part of harassment related to his baldness and age. The supervisor allegedly told the plaintiff to “get thicker skin” when he complained.
The situation came to head when the plaintiff allegedly issued a complaint regarding potential retaliation occurring against one of his team members taking leave. The plaintiff’s supervisor allegedly instructed him to “take actions designed to make the sales representative’s working environment so uncomfortable that she would quit."
Likewise, shortly after the complaint was made, the plaintiff received an email from the supervisor citing performance concerns, with a follow-up email presenting a job-in-jeopardy notice. A few days later, the plaintiff went on a 90-day medical leave, with the conditions of his panic attack allegedly the result of what he experienced at Zillow.
Inclusion for older workers is a matter of ADEA compliance, but is also important for cultural cohesion in the workplace. Workers over the age of 55 comprise about a quarter of the workforce, according to a May 2026 report from MyPerfectResume, with the share of workers over the age of 65 increasing by more than 40% since 2014. Despite this, 90% of workers over the age of 50 report experiencing age discrimination.
Employers could also be subject to big payment amounts for violations. In one example, HCL America interviewed but refused to hire a candidate because he was “too old” for the position. A court ordered the technology company to pay the former candidate $495,000 to settle the age and national origin discrimination lawsuit in April.
