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Thursday, May 10, 2018

No Country For 'Old White Guys'

After millions of baby boomers lost their life savings during the financial crisis (a catastrophe for which no senior bankers were ever held accountable), more old white men are being forced out of retirement or simply being forced to work until a much later age.

Unfortunately for older Americans, rampant ageism in the workforce is making it difficult to get well-paying work - or even, as the following case shows, a job at the local restaurant and bar.

To wit, Darden's Season 52 chain of restaurants was has been forced to pay $2.85 million to settle a federal lawsuit brought by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that job candidates interviewing for jobs at the chain's 41 locations had been told that they wouldn't be considered because the company didn't hire "old white guys," according to the Orlando Sentinel.


"Often, discrimination cases are hard to prove," said David Seltzer, an attorney on the case with the EEOC’s Miami district office. "But here, Seasons 52 interviews across locations repeatedly told applicants things like 'We don’t hire people over 40,' 'Seasons 52 girls are younger and fresh' or asked them for their date of birth, high school graduation date or a driver’s license."

[...]

The EEOC alleged that one manager bluntly said Seasons 52 didn’t employ "old white guys.'"

Though the company escaped an admission of liability (and continues to deny the allegations) it will now be required to hold new training for all hiring managers regarding "age-neutral and non-discriminatory recruiting, interviewing, and hiring; and how to avoid stereotypes in hiring and in the workplace, including ageism and age stereotypes."

Also, the victims of the company's purported discrimination will be invited to reapply for positions at the restaurant. Season 52 has also been required to have its hiring practices monitored for three years by an independent attorney.

The case, which was filed in February 2015, alleged that Darden’s Seasons 52 chain tried to portray a "young and hip" image by hiring younger servers and hosts.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hooters comes to mind. No one wants to see a bunch of old white guys working at Hooters.

Anonymous said...

Young and hip = immature and superficial.

Anonymous said...

The manager will lose his job for saying this. How stupid can a person be? You can't say it!

Anonymous said...

I hear ya 6:28..they just need to Open a place called...Old Cooters

Anonymous said...

these old white guys paid a lot of tax in their years of working. Now they are aging, to hell with them. Its taboo to be white and male now days. Discrimination is running rampant among the whites with affirmative action and now the You're racist homophobe or bigot. The white person cant catch a break now days, but look how much they all pay in tax and they surely don't mind taking advantage of those freebies that those old white men get to pay for. Millenials suck.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...
these old white guys paid a lot of tax in their years of working. Now they are aging, to hell with them. Its taboo to be white and male now days. Discrimination is running rampant among the whites with affirmative action and now the You're racist homophobe or bigot. The white person cant catch a break now days, but look how much they all pay in tax and they surely don't mind taking advantage of those freebies that those old white men get to pay for. Millenials suck.

May 11, 2018 at 7:09 AM

Amen Brother!