Commercial electric contractor, Hatzel & Buehler, Inc., settled an age discrimination suit brought by the EEOC, on behalf of eight older workers, for a half million dollars. The contractor currently operates locations in eight states and the District of Columbia.
Allegations include that the vice president of Hatzel & Buehler's New Jersey branch had been systematically discriminating against older employees and applicants for project manager and estimator roles. The vice-president actively sought out younger employees and candidates.
In addition to the $500,000 settlement, the contractor also agreed to not allow the vice president to make final hiring decisions, to provide ongoing discrimination training, and to report to the EEOC for compliance monitoring. www.eeoc.gov (Jul. 19, 2024).
Commentary & Checklist
These allegations illustrate a violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which prohibits discrimination against employees and candidates for employment who are age 40 or older. The Act applies to employers with 20 or more employees. State laws often apply to smaller employers, and some apply to workers of all ages.
In this case, one officer – the vice-president – created risk for the entire organization. The EEOC noted this because in the settlement, only the vice-president is prohibited from making final hiring decisions.
This is an example of the importance of every person in an organization – top down – understanding and abiding by the anti-discrimination laws.
This is especially true in view of rising age discrimination risk. About 64 percent workers over age 50 think workers face age discrimination in the workplace, according to the AARP (American Association of Retired Persons), And, of that group, 90 percent see ageism in general as commonplace. https://www.aarp.org/work/age-discrimination/signs-to-prove/
And, in the EEOC's Fiscal Year 2023, 14,144 charges based on violation of the ADEA were filed – representing 17.4 percent of total charges filed. This illustrates an increase from FY 2022, when 15.6 percent of total charges filed were ADEA charges. https://www.eeoc.gov/data/enforcement-and-litigation-statistics-0
