PJP Heath, Inc. will pay a total of $300,000 to three former employees to settle a lawsuit for age-based harassment, discrimination and retaliation filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the EEOC announced on May 1. Allegedly a broker with the company had made these comments to the only employees over age 40: “Get it together you f**king old people” and “You need to wear more make-up because of your wrinkles” and “Look at that old f**k.” The Commission also alleged that PJP Health failed to promote a 45 year old woman because of her age and later retaliated against her by terminating her three days after meeting with her about her complaint of age discrimination, and that PJP Health terminated two men based on their ages, 57 and 61.
Anyone over age 40 qualifies as the protected class for age discrimination purposes. Employers must treat allegations of age discrimination seriously and must not tolerate such age-related comments in the workforce.
The 45-year-old author of this post is off to put on some make-up and get it together for work.