Wanting “Fresher” Employees Could Be Evidence of Age Discrimination

Montrose Memorial Hospital, has agreed to settle a lawsuit that the EEOC brought alleging age discrimination.  The lawsuit alleged that Montrose terminated (through firing or constructive discharge) 29 employees who were forty years of age or older.  The lawsuit alleged that the company used performance deficiencies as pretextual reasons for termination, while younger employees received a higher level of leniency for the same or similar performance deficiencies.  The lawsuit further alleges that managers made discriminatory comments to the older employees, such as telling them that they preferred “fresher” nurses and that younger nurses could “dance around the older nurses.”  See EEOC v. Montrose Memorial Hospital, Inc., No. 1:16-cv-02277 (D. Colo.).