A company owner invited 11 of his employees, all of whom were over the age of 49, to attend a meeting to discuss retirement plans. One of those employees sued, claiming the meeting was discriminatory under the ADEA. Did she prevail in court?
No. The judge ruled in favor of the company.
Background
In May 2008 Jacki McWhorter was one of 11 employees invited by Joe Maynard, president of Maynard, Inc., to attend the retirement planning meeting.
During the meeting, Maynard made a comment to the effect that when people get older, they tend to slow down. He then added that if workers wished to stay employed at the company, they’d have to give 100%.
At the end of the meeting, Maynard asked the employees what they expected from the company in terms of retirement packages.
In January 2009, Maynard, Inc. began laying people off due to a decrease in business.
At the end of May 2009 (nearly 10 months after the retirement meeting was held), McWhorter was laid off. Nobody was hired to fill her position.
McWhorter sued, claiming Maynard, Inc. had violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). She claimed the owner’s comments and the meeting itself were both discriminatory.
No dice
The court ruled in favor of the company. It said holding a meeting to discuss retirement options with employees who, because of their age, might be most interested in a meeting like that is not inherently discriminatory.
It fact, the court recognized the usefulness of the meeting.
As for the comments Maynard made during the meeting, the court said they were “stray remarks,” because there was no other evidence the company was discriminating against older employees.
But comments like that can bring a company down, if combined with other evidence that discrimination is taking place.
Lesson: Comments that may raise employees’ sensitivity levels should not be part of the conversation. They could be used as building blocks in a lawsuit against your company.
Fortunately, for Maynard, Inc., a few stray remarks couldn’t carry the case.
Cite: McWhorter v. Maynard, Inc.
By: Christian Schappel
This article was syndicated via RSS from: http://www.hrmorning.com/discrimination-retirement-meeting-involved-only-older-workers/
