Dollar General is involved in a $295,000 settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission following alleged age discrimination and harassment at one of its stores. The settlement, the second over the last two weeks, also involves a retaliation lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, from July 2016 until January 2018, a newly hired Dollar General regional director in Oklahoma harassed district managers who were in their 50s and older by calling them “grumpy old men,” telling them he was building “a Millennial team” and they needed “young blood” in the stores, and threatening them to keep up with the “Millennial team” or quit or be fired.
After one of the district managers quit and reported the harassment to the company, Dollar General sought feedback from the district managers about the new regional director but did not investigate reports of age discrimination. Meanwhile, the regional director continued harassing older workers and fired two district managers in retaliation for reporting his misconduct. Eventually, another district manager was forced to quit because of the continual harassment.
Such alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits age discrimination and harassment, as well as retaliation against workers who report such conduct. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.
In addition to the payment to three former managers, the decree requires Dollar General to take a variety of actions to protect older workers in its Eastern Oklahoma region from discrimination based on age, including training retail and human resources managers, adopting and distributing effective policies and procedures to prevent age harassment and discrimination, and notifying employees of their rights. The company will also report to the EEOC regarding compliance with the decree.
“Unfortunately, age discrimination in the workplace is pervasive and often goes unreported,” said Andrea Baran, the EEOC’s regional attorney for the St. Louis District. “Employers must take serious, effective steps to prevent age discrimination and harassment, they must encourage employees to report any discriminatory treatment they experience or observe on the job, and they must not tolerate any workplace behavior that demeans or ridicules older workers because of their age.”
David Davis, director of the EEOC’s St. Louis District office, said, “Employers that discriminate against older workers based on ageist stereotypes and assumptions not only violate the law, they also deprive themselves of an experienced and capable workforce. Age discrimination has no place in any business.”
Dollar General did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication of this story.
It is the second settlement in as many weeks for the Goodlettsville, Tenn.-based retailer. Dollar General agreed to pay the Occupational Safety and Health Administration $12 million and will do a complete worker safety overhaul.
