Meenan Oil to Pay $80,000 to Settle EEOC AGE Discrimination Lawsuit
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Friday, May 15, 2009 |
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Tullytown, Pa., distributor of home heating oil has agreed to pay
$80,000 and provide significant equitable relief to settle an age
discrimination lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) announced. The EEOC charged in its lawsuit that
Meenan Oil Company unlawfully fired sales representative Louis Ceccoli
of Langhorne, Pa., because of his age, 71.
According to the
allegations in the EEOC's lawsuit, Meenan's sales manager made several
derogatory comments demonstrating a bias against older workers,
including stating that he would like to "remove all the older
representatives and replace them with younger employees," repeatedly
asking Ceccoli about his retirement plans and commenting that he would
retire if he were "as old as" Ceccoli. The EEOC said the sales manager
also took sales leads and sales territory from Ceccoli. After the
discharge, Meenan Oil replaced Ceccoli with a substantially younger
employee.
It is a violation of the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (ADEA) to treat an employee who is 40 or older less
favorably than younger individuals or to terminate him based on age.
The EEOC filed suit (Civil Action No. 08-cv-5146, in U.S. District
Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania) after first attempting
to reach a voluntary settlement through its conciliation process.
In
addition to the $80,000 in monetary relief for Ceccoli, the three-year
consent decree settling the suit requires Meenan to provide
anti-discrimination training to all supervisory and management
personnel, to require supervisors and managers to oversee their work
areas in compliance with company policies against discrimination and
retaliation, and to post a notice about the resolution of the lawsuit.
Meenan did not admit liability in the consent decree, which is pending
judicial approval.
"More than 40 years after the passage of the
ADEA, age discrimination charges represent one of the fastest-growing
types of complaints filed with the EEOC nationally," said District
Director Marie M. Tomasso of the EEOC's Philadelphia District Office.
"The EEOC will take action if older employees are illegally forced out
of a job based on age."
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