Compliance November 19, 2013

Age Discrimination Case Remanded to District Court

November 19, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A federal appellate court decided there is enough evidence to remand a case back to district court to decide whether a school board committed age discrimination.
Reported by

In the case of Harris v. Powhatan County School Board, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the opinion of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at Richmond, which found in favor of the school board, stating that while Alexander Harris had made prima facie cases for age and racial discrimination, he “failed to show that the board’s stated nondiscriminatory reasons for the termination were pretext for discrimination.”

The appellate court reviewed the case under such standards as McDonnell Douglas v. Green and Hill v. Lockheed Martin Logistics Mgmt, Inc. These cases say that “the employee, after establishing a prima facie case for discrimination, must demonstrate that employer’s proffered permissible reason for taking an adverse employment action is actually a pretext for discrimination.” The appellate court found that according to these standards, Harris had indeed established a prima facie case with regard to his claim of age discrimination, as well as presenting sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that the defendants’ reasons for eliminating his position were in fact a pretext for age discrimination.

Get more!  Sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters.

With regard to Harris’s allegations of race discrimination, which would be a Title VII violation, the appellate court acknowledged that he established a prima facie case but found that his case did not present sufficient evidence to show that the defendants’ reasons for eliminating his position were a pretext for such discrimination. This being the case, the court dismissed Harris’s claim of a Title VII violation.

Harris, alleges in the lawsuit that his employer, the Powhatan County School Board of Virginia, practiced both age and racial discrimination when it eliminated his position of director of maintenance and custodial services for the county’s school district. At the time his position was eliminated, Harris was 72 years old.

The school board contends Harris conveyed his intent to retire to his supervisor. However, Harris says while he was investigating the possibility of retirement, he did not wish to do so until compensation issues relating to unused vacation time were resolved. The issues were not resolved and the school board voted to eliminate Harris’s position, forcing him to retire. Harris then filed his lawsuit, which cited alleged violations of Title VII, 42 U.S.C. Section 1981, 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

The full text of the appellate court’s opinion can be found here.

Products November 19, 2013

Power Dividend Index Fund Released

November 19, 2013 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – W.E. Donoghue & Co., Inc. (WEDCO) has launched the Power Dividend Index Fund.
Reported by

The mutual fund’s strategy uses WEDCO’s Power Dividend Index to seek to generate income. The fund also deploys a tactical overlay in an effort to preserve capital in all market cycles.

“For long term, risk-averse investors who share our conviction that traditional benchmarking is antiquated, this product may offer a more effective way to increase total return,” says Jeffrey R. Thompson, senior vice president and portfolio manager of WEDCO, which is based in Norwood, Massachusetts.

Never miss a story — sign up for PLANSPONSOR newsletters to keep up on the latest retirement plan benefits news.

The Power Dividend Index isolates the top five dividend-yielding stocks in each of the 10 Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) sectors—consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financial services, health care, industrials, materials, utilities, telecommunication services and information technology—that comprise the S&P 500 Index. 

These 50 stocks make up the S-Network Sector Dividend Dogs Index and are equally weighted in the fund’s portfolio. The fund will sell positions in stocks that are removed from the S&P 500.

WEDCO uses an intermediate term tactical overlay to position the fund bearishly or bullishly depending on market developments and outlooks. This enables the fund’s portfolio to be invested in money market funds and other cash equivalents to protect investors during equity market downturns. Under normal market conditions, the portfolio’s stock holdings are automatically rebalanced on a quarterly basis.

Thompson adds, “The Power Dividend Index Fund combines a variety of elements in an effort to mitigate risk and maximize returns. Our rules-based approach to dividend investing can provide investors with a core high-yield strategy unaffected by the volatility in the fixed-income universe.”

W.E. Donoghue & Co., Inc. is a registered investment adviser offering tactical asset allocation solutions. The firm manages more than $600 million for individual and institutional separate account and mutual fund clients.

«