According to the age discrimination claims against Kanbar Property Management LLC (KPM), the property management company, wanted “younger and prettier” property managers to meet with potential tenants and socialize with potential clients after hours. To effectuate this strategy, Kanbar allegedly fired older employees to clear room for younger attractive females. One of those older employees was Toni Strength, who was 53 years old at the time of her firing. According to the age discrimination lawsuit, Strength had been successfully employed by KPM and its predecessor property management companies since 1992.
But, “younger and prettier” is not an exception to the age discrimination laws, including the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) and Ohio’s age discrimination law (Ohio R.C. § 4112.02(N), Ohio R.C. § 4112.05, and Ohio R.C. § 4112.14). The law is pretty straight forward – Employers cannot fire or make any employment decisions based on the age of its employees.
To defend the claim, Kanbar argued that it terminated Strength because her position was being eliminated. Unfortunately for the employer, there was evidence to the contrary, including that Kanbar put a 23-year-old clerical employee into Strength former property manager position and assigned the 30 year younger employee to manage seven of the ten buildings that Strength had previously managed.
Realizing that it faced a difficult task arguing that lame excuse to a jury, Kanbar finally agreed to settlement the case for $140,000 as well as furnish other relief to settle the age discrimination lawsuit. To put the settlement in context, property manages like Strength make a median salary of $50,000. To that end, the settlement represented almost three years of compensation.
If you are an employee over the age of 40 and believe that you are being discriminated because you are older than other employees; or have be wrongfully terminated and replaced with some younger than you, you may have an age discrimination claim under Ohio law or the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Even if you are not sure about your age discrimination claim, you should call the right attorney as quickly as possible to schedule a free and confidential consultation at 866-797-6040. Age discrimination claims have very short statute of limitations, which means that you only have a very short amount of time to figure out if you have an age discrimination claim and take action. It is unlawful for employers to treat older employees differently.
Disclaimer:
The materials available at this employment law website are for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing legal advice. Your best option is to contact an Ohio attorney to obtain advice with respect to any age discrimination claim questions or any particular employment law issue that you may have. Use and access to this employment law website or any of the links contained within the site do not create an attorney-client relationship. The legal opinions expressed at or through this site are the opinions of the individual lawyer and may not reflect the opinions of Spitz, The Employee’s Law Firm or any individual attorney.