The New York District Office of the EEOC brought this suit against Empire Healthchoice HMO, Inc. (subsequently known as Wellchoice, Inc.) in June 2005 in the Eastern District of New York. The complaint alleged that the Defendant violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) by engaging in unlawful employment practices against the two complainants and other similarly situated workers over the age of 40. The complainants allegedly were not promoted, were involuntarily transferred, and not granted medical absences because of their age. The Defendant allegedly retaliated against the complainants when they filed charges with the EEOC on behalf of themselves and others by involuntarily transferring one complainant and denying excused medical time off for the other.

The parties entered into a three year consent decree in September 2007. The Defendant paid $9000 to the complainant who was denied a promotion. The Defendant was required to conduct two hours of training for all managers and human resources personnel in the unit where the complainants worked. The Defendant was also required to post a notice of non-discrimination and revise and redistribute its non-discrimination policy to all employees in the unit where the complainants worked. The Defendant also agree to not discriminate or retaliate in violation of the ADEA. The docket sheet does not show any further enforcement; the case was presumably closed in 2010.

Kevin Wilemon - 05/15/2008


compress summary