Age-old problem sparks suit vs. Facebook

A Manhattan man claims a top Facebook executive lied to him about a job position being closed — after he discovered the man’s age.

Now he’s suing the tech giant for age discrimination in a lawsuit that quotes CEO Mark Zuckerberg as saying “young people are just smarter.”

Stephen Cohen, 61, says top Facebook executives Carolyn Everson, vice president of global marketing, and Glenn Handler, director of sales and marketing staff, were all over him for a job as a communications associate after learning of his past as an executive at a major advertising firm and as a columnist for The New York Times.

But they turned cold after he sent his résumé — which showed he’d graduated from Dartmouth College in 1978, according to the Manhattan federal court lawsuit.

“I had fully expected, based on Mr. Handler’s earlier communications, that I would at a minimum be granted an interview for the job,” Cohen said in a court document tied to the lawsuit. “Instead I had been told that the position had suddenly ‘closed.’ ”

The suit points the finger in part at Facebook’s youthful CEO, Zuckerberg, 33, whom Cohen quotes as once having said: “I want to stress the importance of being young and technical. Young people are just smarter. Why are most chess masters under 30?” A Facebook rep denied the charges. “Facebook is an equal opportunity employer,” the spokesperson said. “We do not make hiring decisions based on age or any other protected characteristic. We believe these claims are without merit and will mount a vigorous defense.”