White River Health System, Inc., headquartered in Batesville, Ark., will pay $52,500 to four former employees as part of the settlement of an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). According to the EEOC’s suit, filed in February 2020, White River fired four employees because White River’s insurance policy excluded anyone over the age of 72 from driving. The employees, over the age of 72, had driven for several years without incident. The company made no attempt to secure alternative driver’s insurance that would cover the employees, the EEOC said.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects employees from discrimination based on age. Under the two-year consent decree White River will pay the four employees $52,500 in back pay.
In addition, under the terms of the consent decree:
- White River is enjoined from terminating, or failing to hire any employees with driving responsibilities because of the individual’s age.
- White River will not discriminate based on age in the purchase of insurance for employees who have driving responsibilities.
- Before renewing or purchasing any commercial automobile insurance policies, White River will contact a minimum of three insurance companies to ascertain whether it can obtain policies which do not exclude from coverage any drivers age 40 or older based on their age.
- White River will review its existing equal employment opportunity policies to ensure the policies show a strong and clear commitment to preventing unlawful age discrimination and retaliation.
- White River will conduct training for its senior center employees on the requirements of ADEA.
- White River will provide to EEOC any complaints of age discrimination and White River’s responses to the complaints.
