Department of Brilliant Moves

IKEA has been fined $566,000 for destroying emails it had been ordered to preserve. Four employees sued the company for age discrimination, saying a “youth move” on the part of management was the reason.

The court had ordered the company to produce all emails regarding those employees. After a long delay with no results, IKEA finally admitted they had been deleted, allegedly when the employees left.

The company’s assertion in that regard was vague, however, and they had allowed the court to think they were working on it from April 2022 to January 2023, giving a strong impression they were being less than forthright  hence, the substantial fine. In the meantime, the cases are still ongoing.