Employer’s Insurance Policy Excluding Older Employees is Not a Defense to Age Discrimination

The EEOC filed a lawsuit recently against Telluride Express in which the EEOC alleged that Telluride refused to hire an applicant over age 75 because of his age.  Having over fifty years of experience with commercial driving,  the applicant applied to work for Telluride as a shuttle driver, but Telluride denied the prospective employee’s application the very next day because the company’s commercial auto insurance policy did not cover shuttle drivers over the age of 75.  The EEOC’s lawsuit further claims that the prospective employee was just as qualified as younger drivers, recently passed a Department of Transportation medical exam, and had no traffic violations in the past three years.  The alleged conduct is a violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits employers from refusing to hire older applicants because of their age.  See EEOC v. San Miguel Mountain Ventures, LLC, No. 1:20-cv-00881 (D. Colo.).