Burrow Global Services, LLC, a Houston based company specializing in engineering, construction and plant safety, will pay a former employee $50,960 to resolve an age discrimination claim. In addition, Burrow Global will be required to update its policies regarding the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, provide training to its employees and regularly report to the EEOC concerning discrimination.
The EEOC’s suit against Burrow Global
According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, in 2017, a new manager was hired over a division of Burrow employees who were working in Baytown, Texas. The new manager was in his 30s. Within a few weeks of starting, this manager began making comments about retirement to a design coordinator who was in his 60s. The design coordinator had no plans to retire and had worked with Burrow since 2014.
The manager made the decision to terminate the employee, stating a “lack of work,” but not long after the employee was fired, a significantly younger person was hired. This person had no formal education beyond high school, while the original employee had a 4-year college degree. With all these pieces together, it’s understandable that the employee in question would be frustrated and upset and the EEOC had to follow up.
The ADEA prohibits age discrimination against employees older than 40
The EEOC attempted to resolve the situation through its administrative conciliation process, but filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 2020. “The ADEA protects workers age 40 and over from adverse actions taken by employers on the basis of age,” stated Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston District Office. “We will continue to bring lawsuits to enforce the law in instances where age was a cause of an adverse employment action.”
The lesson for businesses: Train your management staff about age discrimination and don’t make decisions based on age. The EEOC will hold your business accountable.
Dawn Brotherton is a Sr. Staff Writer at The American Genius with an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Central Oklahoma. She is an experienced business writer with over 10 years of experience in SEO and content creation. Since 2017, she has earned $60K+ in grant writing for a local community center, which assists disadvantaged adults in the area.
