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Compliance September 8, 2015
School Settles Age Bias Suit
The EEOC charged the school with discriminating against an employee after finding out he was previously retired from another job.
Reported by Rebecca Moore
A voucher school located in Racine, Wisconsin, has agreed to settle an age and gender bias lawsuit filed against it by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The lawsuit alleges that, after hiring Boro Bosovich as a principal/supervisor and learning that he had retired from a prior job, Renaissance School’s owners began questioning his fitness for the job and making comments related to his age. Ultimately, they fired him a few days after hiring him.
The EEOC’s investigation also found that during the few days Renaissance School employed Bosovich, at least one of its owners made gender-discriminatory comments, implying that females were more desirable as employees because they were more passive.
The terms of the decree prohibit future discrimination and require Renaissance School to pay former employee Bosovich $69,000. In addition, Renaissance School must train its entire staff about how to prevent and handle discrimination, retaliation, employee rights under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
Also, Renaissance School’s owner will personally address the entire staff before every training session with a message of zero tolerance for discrimination and retaliation. The company will preserve, track, and report to EEOC any future complaints of discrimination or retaliation.