I posted this in a comment on the age-based discrimination thread. Last summer, Intel said the layoffs were merit-based, by using the stock levels, and it just happens to be a coincidence that the ages of the laid off workers skewed older. Per the EEOC, this alone is not illegal (since Intel is claiming another reason for the layoffs instead of age).
What MIGHT be illegal, however, is the tendency for older workers to get lower stock levels despite being successful in the first place. Somebody needs to pull the data and compare the age breakdown of successful + L4/L5 stock. If that is a skewed distribution (and I'm certain it must be), then it certainly sounds like clear-cut age discrimination in compensation.
This is a great opportunity for someone in HR to blow the whistle on this.