The Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida, which operates National, Enterprise, and Alamo car rental services in Florida, has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle an age discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The EEOC sued the Coconut Creek-based company two years ago, alleging that it discriminated against older applicants for management trainee positions. Federal officials say that since 2019, applicants aged 40 or older made up 15% of job seekers for the program but less than 3% of those hired.
Applicants told the EEOC they were asked their age or graduation year, told the company preferred candidates fresh out of college, subjected to age-related comments, or otherwise discouraged from applying.
Enterprise Leasing of Florida issued a statement saying it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including failing to hire individuals on account of their age,” and strongly denying the allegations of wrongdoing. The company emphasized that individual hiring decisions for the management trainee program were “fair, legitimate and non-discriminatory.”
Under the consent decree filed in federal court, the company does not admit wrongdoing but agrees to publicize anti-discrimination policies, track hiring performance, train recruiters and managers, maintain an ethics hotline, pay $1.8 million, and establish a claims process to distribute the funds.
Discrimination against workers aged 40 and older is prohibited under the U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
“Over a third of the adult workforce in the United States is age 50 or older,” EEOC regional attorney Kristen Foslid said. “Employers cannot overlook qualified applicants simply because of their age.”
The EEOC announced the settlement Thursday, which was approved by a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday.
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