U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued the following announcement on Feb. 12.
Llanerch Country Club (LCC) of Havertown, Pa., has agreed to pay $30,000 in monetary relief and furnish significant equitable relief to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced.
The EEOC charged that beginning in January 2013, LCC started treating the oldest groundskeeper in its grounds maintenance department differently than younger workers by laying him off for the winter season. The EEOC further charged that in December 2016, LLC temporarily laid off the groundskeeper, who was then 59 years old, for the winter, but later informed him that he would not be recalled or rehired to his position in spring 2017 because the country club was "looking to take the staff in a younger direction." Less than three weeks later, LCC hired nine other groundskeepers who were significantly younger, according to EEOC's lawsuit.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects individuals age 40 and over from employment discrimination because of their age, including discrimination in the terms or conditions or employment and in discharge and hiring decisions. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (EEOC v. Llanerch Country Club, Civil Action No. 2:18-cv-04167-JP) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.
The two-year consent decree resolving the EEOC's lawsuit has been approved and entered by the federal court. In addition to paying $30,000 in monetary relief to the groundskeeper, LCC is enjoined from engaging in age discrimination or retaliation. LLC has agreed to provide training on age discrimination and retaliation to it managerial employees, post a notice of employee rights under the ADEA, and report future complaints of age discrimination and retaliation to the EEOC.
"The contributions of workers age 40 and older are central to the vitality of our national economy and our local economy here in eastern Pennsylvania," said EEOC Regional Attorney Debra Lawrence of the agency's Philadelphia District Office. "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act was designed to protect those workers' rights and their vast contributions to the American workplace, and the EEOC will continue its efforts to safeguard those rights and contributions."
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