A parts’ manufacturer changing criterion for layoffs suggests age discrimination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charged last week.
The EEOC sued Auburn Hills, Michigan manufacturer Hutchinson Sealing Systems, saying it manipulated its criteria for laying off project managers based on age. According to the EEOC, in the first round of layoffs, the company selected a 62-year-old manager for layoff–at the time its oldest project engineer.
But in rounds two and three, the company changed the criterion, as a result of which the second and third oldest managers got pink slips.
This was only one month after the first layoffs, the EEOC said. Had the company kept to the original criterion, then much younger engineers would have been selected for layoff, the commission contended.
Interestingly, the EEOC announcement doesn’t say what the new criteria were. Apparently they’re saving that revelation for when the case goes to trial.
But there’s a cautionary tale for employers in this case: If you change your criteria for deciding who is going to lose a job, make sure you have a nondiscriminatory explanation for doing so.
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