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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Kim Eschler

SOC315

June 2, 2011

Donald Ely

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Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Tandy Brands is based in Dallas, Texas, and is known or their lines of

accessories of belts, small leather goods, eyewear, and gifts. During a four-month

period Tandy Brands did reduction in workforce layoffs. In those layoffs six supervisors

between the age of 58-75 were terminated. Tandy Brands retained only two supervisors

both in their early 40s. Merta Withrow, a 62-year-old has sued and won an Age

Discrimination Lawsuit.

Age Discrimination

“The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) protects

individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment

discrimination based on age. The ADEA’s protections apply to both

employees and job applicants. Under the ADEA, it is unlawful to

discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any

term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing,

promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training.

The ADEA permits employers to favor older workers based on age even

when doing so adversely affects a younger worker who is 40 or older.”

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The EEOC duty is to enforce the provisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act

of 1964, ensuring no one is discriminated against and unlawful employment practices

are prosecuted. If an employee or citizen believes they have been discriminated against

because of his/her race, sex, disability, age, national origin, pregnancy, religion, sexual

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harassment or retaliated against and the feel they are not obtaining the proper

assistance from his/her employer or person in charge, the EEOC is the best resource to

help.

EEOC’s role.

The EEOC was contacted in 2009 by Merta Withrow, a 62-year-old manager for

Tandy Brands. Her claim was that within four months she and five other supervisors

between the ages of 58 and 75 were fired from a reduction-in-force. Tandy Brands

retained only two managers, at this location, both in their early 40s. It was discovered

that two managers kept were both lesser qualified than the six managers who had been

let go.

EEOC alleges that the younger, less qualified managers were retained as part of

Tandy Bands campaign to give the company a more youthful image, in line with images

of staff prominently displayed on its website. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court

(Civil Action No. 4:10-cv-03506) after attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement.

U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison awarded Merta Withrow $95,000 in monetary

relief. In addition Tandy Brands also must post notices; of non-discrimination in all

company workplaces and offices, offer annual training for all managers, supervisors,

and employees; they must implement effective anti-discrimination policies, complaint

procedures and investigative procedures and other curative measures. (EEOC, 2011)

Social change.

Society is unsure what to do with our aging population. We respect our elders for

what they have done before us, but in the workplace the negative stereotypes of an

older employee being physically and mentally deteriorating, more likely to fall ill,

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unreceptive to technology and organizational change, difficult to retrain or teach new

skills, and lacking in drive and ambition, outweigh the positive facts that older workers

are more mature with a strong work ethic, greater loyalty and lower turnover.

Currently, the median age for an employee is 41-years-old. Since 2007, age

discrimination cases have increased 17% and with the high number of Baby Boomers

still in the workforce, the expectation is that age discrimination cases are only going to

increase. Employers want young, freshly educated 20-somethings, which can help a

company grow and be competitive in today’s quickly evolving markets. A balance will

have to be made by both employers of higher aged employees and the employees

themselves. The employer will need to offer ongoing training to all employees to stay

abreast of changes and new technologies, the employee (of all ages) should initiate

training to learn new skills and subscribe to periodicals and other field specific growth

opportunities to keep fresh in the changing market.

Comparison

In comparison to the Tandy Brand lawsuit, is a suit against The Boeing Co. and

Spirit Aero Systems of age discrimination brought by former workers after Boeing's

2005 sale of its commercial airplane operations in Kansas and Oklahoma. Ninety

former Boeing workers sued in December 2005 claiming they lost their jobs because of

their age during the divestiture. The employees claim that comments made by upper

management via deposition and company emails between executives prove a plan to

release specific employees.

The workers lost their argument that multiple derogatory comments by

management showed a corporate culture of age discrimination. The judge wrote that the

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workers failed to establish that the "comments of a handful of managers in a company

employing thousands of workers is sufficient to show a corporate policy against older

workers" (Hedeman, R).

Future Compliance and Inclusion

Tandy Brands has some obvious changes and requirements mandated by the

U.S. Court to make sure their company moves forward with an age friendly

environment. In addition to trainings and policy changes to ensure inclusion and

cultural changes Tandy Brands (and other companies) could consider some of the

following:

Leadership: take a longer view to attract, retain, and develop diverse

talent. Talent that will be a driving factor in maintaining competitiveness for

future business needs. Ensure the best candidates are in the proper roles

and enough varied skills and viewpoints are being leveraged throughout

an organization.

Growth: Build diverse capacities in leadership to meet the new demands

of a diverse workforce and a diverse customer base. Create strategy that

ensures diversity is an enable, and not a barrier to a company’s strategy.

Accountability: Have substantial, actionable goals, with accountability, and

oversight by management. Compensation, in part by the employee’s

ability to thrive in diversity. Behavioral accountability at all levels of the

organization.

Processes and Procedures: making new programs and initiatives

sustainable. Including a commitment to training, education, development,

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and constant communication about the strategic goals.

Safety: develop a safe place or forum for employees to communicate

about all aspects of their work lives.

Conclusion

In today’s workplace there are four distinct generation working shoulder to

shoulder; Traditionalists, Baby Boomers, Generation Xers and Millennials. Each has

their own mind-set, work habits, technology attitudes, and customs. Tandy Brands went

about their reduction-in-force by targeting their experienced employees, to try to save

face in a youth-driven fashion market. Regardless of the reasons, it is wrong to single

out any one person, or group. Companies should embrace the differences all

employees have to offer and give opportunities for growth for the individual and the

long- term of the company.

References

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6FigureJobs (2011) Executives Are Facing More Age Discrimination. Retrieved from

https://www.6figurejobs.com/ExecCareerNewsArticle.cfm?100k=1&NewsID=533

&ArticleID=3 on May 29, 2011.

EEOC (2011) Texas-Based Fashion Accessory Company To Pay $95,000 To Settle

EEOC Age Discrimination Suit. Retrieved from

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/3-29-11b.cfm on May 29, 2011.

Hedeman, R, (2001) Judge Upholds Ruling in Age Discrimination Suit. Retrieve from

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Judge-upholds-ruling-in-age-apf-

2740035214.html?x=0&.v=1 on May 29, 2011.

Price Waterhouse Coopers (2010) Why Diversity Now. Retrieved from

http://www.diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/12/Why-Diversity-Why-Now.pdf

on May 29, 2011.

Tandy Brands (2011) About Us. Retrieved from http://www.tandybrands.com on

May 29, 2011.

Victoria Avdictate.Com (2001) Tandy Brands sued for age discrimination

Retrieved from http://m.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2010/se on May 29, 2011.