Honeywell Settles Ageism Suit for $2.15 Million

Honeywell has agreed to pay $2.15 million to resolve an age-discrimination lawsuit with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The suit involved employees at AlliedSignal, which was purchased by Honeywell in 2000.

According to the EEOC’s suit, during a 1997 reorganization, a class of sales managers and representatives were either terminated or demoted because of their age. Sometimes, the EEOC says, younger workers with less experience were offered those positions.

Honeywell, which has more than 100,000 employees in 95 countries, denies any wrongdoing. As part of the settlement, it will provide training in the provisions of the age-discrimination act to managers and supervisors in its consumer-products group and frictions-materials businesses.

Under federal law, employers cannot deny employment to anyone simply because they are 40 or older.

More information on discrimination is available online, as is the article “They Don’t Retire Them, They Hire Them,” about retaining older employees.