What happens when a twenty-something manager tells a baby boomer employee to turn up her hearing aid or take an herbal memory medicine? In the case of an Oregon Company, it landed them in hot water with the federal government.
Scott and Patty Corp., formerly Woodburn Fertilizer, Inc., agreed recently to pay former employee, Carolyn Arzino, $85,000 to settle age discrimination claims brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit claimed the 55-year-old longtime accounting secretary was subjected to harassment and unequal treatment because of her age.
Baby Boomer author and expert, Beverly Mahone, hails the decision by the EEOC saying, “This should serve as a lesson to younger managers that they have no right to mistreat older workers. Ms. Mahone address the issue of older employees working for younger managers in her book, Whatever! A Baby Boomer’s Journey Into Middle Age. “Telling Ms. Arzino that she should take ginkgo bilboa and to turn up the volume on her Miracle ear hearing aid was totally inappropriate behavior for a manager no matter how old her or she is.”
According to the EEOC complaint, the young manager gave Arzino a poor performance evaluation, withheld her raise and placed her on a 30-day probation before firing her on July 20, 2004. But EEOCs investigation revealed that Arzino’s coworkers called her an exceptional performer.
Scott and Patty Corp. denied liability. But in addition to the financial settlement, the company has also agreed to train its managers, supervisors and employees on employment discrimination.
There are probably a number of similar cases to the one in Oregon, according to Ms. Mahone, however, some older workers may be afraid to speak up for fear of losing their jobs and have no real source of income to fall back on. Employers need to be aware and sensitive to those dynamics in the workplace.
“That young manager should’ve thought of the employee as her own mother and then asked herself if she would dare speak to her in that manner”, says Ms. Mahone.
