Posted on 03/07/2007 2:34:46 PM PST by qam1
What happens when a twenty-something manager tells an older worker to turn up her hearing aid or take an herbal memory medicine? In this Oregon case, it got the employer in trouble with the feds.
Scott and Patty Corp., formerly Woodburn Fertilizer, Inc., agreed recently to pay Carolyn Arzino, a former longtime 55-year-old accounting secretary, $85,000 to settle age discrimination claims brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The case arose, agency trial attorney Teri Healy told The Oregonian, from the actions of a female manager in her 20s, who criticized Arzino's work, telling her, among other things, that she should take ginkgo biloba, an herbal memory tonic, and turn up the volume on her Miracle Ear.
The manager gave Arzino a poor performance evaluation, withheld her raise and placed her on a 30-day probation before firing her on July 20, 2004, according to the EEOC's complaint. But EEOCs investigation revealed that Arzinos coworkers said she was an exceptional performer.
Scott and Patty Corp. denied liability.
This case, noted EEOC district director Joan Ehrlich, illustrates a phenomenon of today's workplace: It spans four generations -- Millennials, Gen Xers, Baby Boomers and the last of the Silent Generation born before the end of World War II -- and their members don't always speak the same language or work quite the same way. Employers need to be aware and sensitive to those dynamics.
I am really surprised...finally, the EEOC actually did something to help someone who was definitely and outrageously discriminated against. The EEOC sides with the employer in 99.9% of the cases they hear.
So true and there are lots of them everywhere.
Amen. There's some baby boomers here, but we're not all hippies.
You younguns ain't too swift. If you were, you'd know that social security is penny ante stuff. Take a look at what medicare is going to cost you. How's your back feelin, sonny? Stay strong. You've got a load to carry. :-)
let that be a lesson. Don't trust anyone under thirty.
The twenty-something manager is a jerk, end of story.
Oh, I had a back surgery when I was 18...it hasnt been the same since!
That's one 20-something that won't remain a manager for long. Likely not with the company for long either. Youthful stupidity.
And those boomers among us who were never the former and certainly not the latter, suggest you take up a real hobby.
I have great sympathy. I hurt mine on the flightline stupidly trying to help a crew chief wrestle an F-4 external fuel tank. Ouch.
I recovered after awhile, but I still remember how it felt and how long it took to heal.
R.
See, the mistake that was made here was that the manager should have
"eliminated the position" instead of "firing" the employee.
These young inexperienced managers ...
they just don't know anything about how the system works.
Yup. And, we aren't going to leave you anything in our will.
Most of us boomers were never hippies. And the boomer Vietnam vets might come looking for you over that ...
What the hell are you and Cogadh na Sith talking about? Just because you are a young dumb ass and will become and old dumb ass doesn't mean the woman who was fired was anything but a fine worker.
Why don't you take that mouth of yours and try busting, one on one with some baby boomers of the combat variety.
That's of course assuming this story as reported is entirely true and/or in context
But I got to ask, why is this a federal case? The feds have this little to do that they can investigate a simple workplace dispute like this?
Dont wet your depends. Those things cost money.
Mrs Magslinger would argue against that. She would much rather work for a man than a woman. She says that the backbiting is much worse with a woman in charge. With limited experience of working for women, I find that hard to believe, but I take her word for it and count my blessings.
Somewhat like Ann Coulter, I fear I might be banned if I told someone that he talked like a man with a paper anus. So I won't.
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