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Lawsuits Claim FedEx Discriminates Based On Age

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Memphis, TNFederal Express (FedEx) is defending itself against two lawsuits that claim the company engages in age discrimination. Discrimination based on age is illegal and victims of the practice can file lawsuits to try to recover any money lost as a result of the discrimination.

One of the lawsuits, Clausnitzer et. al. v. FedEx, claims that FedEx has a nationwide practice of "discriminating based upon age against its couriers who are over the age of 40 and who have ten or more years of service." Plaintiffs claim that FedEx does this by managing its "Best Practices Pays" (BPP) and "Minimum Acceptable Performance Standards" (MAPS) programs in ways that discriminate against people who are over 40. They also allege that MAPS and BPP are managed in ways that allow FedEx to force older couriers to either quit or lose their jobs while younger couriers face no such difficulties.

fedex age discriminationThe plaintiffs also claim that younger couriers receive favorable starting times, overtime assignments, route assignments, production goals, discipline, and performance evaluations even though they may be less experienced than older couriers. The lead plaintiff in the case, Clausnitzer, further claims that as a result of the lawsuit, he has been targeted by FedEx managers, given unrealistic performance standards, and given new routes with early pickups and additional bulk stops.

The lawsuit is seeking loss of income and the value of fringe benefits, liquidated damages, pre-judgment interest, costs of litigation, and any other awards as the court sees to be just.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from discrimination. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) it is illegal to discriminate against people over the age of 40 in any aspect of employment. This includes:
  • Hiring and firing;
  • Compensation or classification of employees;
  • Job advertisements;
  • Recruitment;
  • Testing;
  • Pay, retirement plans, fringe benefits and disability leave; or
  • Use of company facilities.
Furthermore, it is illegal to harass a person on the basis of age, retaliate against a person for filing a discrimination claim, and make an employment decision based on a person's age. The only time age can be taken into consideration is when it has been proven to be a bona fide occupational requirement.

Federal Express has been in trouble in the past for discrimination and retaliation against employees. In one case, FedEx was ordered back in 2004 to pay $1.57 million to a 21-year employee after he was the victim of workplace discrimination. Furthermore, the plaintiff also noted that when he filed his complaint, company managers retaliated against him, including offering him an ultimatum: he could either accept a demotion, including a drop of five pay grade levels, or be issued a warning letter with the understanding that he could be immediately terminated for any further mistakes.

In another discrimination case against Federal Express, a woman was awarded $2.5 million in punitive damages, $350,000 for compensatory damages, and $391,400 in back pay and front pay. The lawsuit claimed that the woman was subjected to sex discrimination and that after some made complaints about work-place hostility the brakes to her truck were sabotaged and she suffered other forms of retaliation.

People who are subjected to age discrimination who file lawsuits may receive relief in the form of back pay, hiring, reinstatement, front pay, or actions to make the individual "whole" (meaning that the individual is in the condition he or she would have been in if not for the discriminatory act). Compensatory and punitive damages may also be awarded.

READ MORE ABOUT Employment

Fedex Age Discrimination Legal Help

If you have suffered from discrimination as a Federal Express courier, please contact a [Fedex Age Discrimination] lawyer who will evaluate your claim at no charge.

READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
Racist, "woke" hiring practices. They only hire young kids of a certain age. In my city there are a lot of Fedex print centers where they obviously do not hire any straight white men that are of a certain age. Fedex is racist.

Posted by

on
same here I am a supervisor and if you are not with the in crowd you will be overworked intimidated and written up and forced out ..

Posted by

on
I agree with most comments above .But my main concerns was with safety of myself and motoring public i had been employed with Fedex for 15 plus years and we also got a new customer center manager that had a push to get off yard in 15 mins and would give verbal warnings if drivers did not comply but would praise the ones that could get out in less than 15 mins. But to do a proper inspection of equipment and check load and get load assignment and if necessary placard hazardous materials takes longer than 15 mins and also when something was defective be told to take it out anyway that it would be fixed later well i documented these actions on my vehicle inspection book but found a number of trailers written up and was months before they had defects corrected for example a trailer that ran for over a month with a bolt in the tire and being told we did not have a tire and just air it up and go with it this is just one example of safety.

Posted by

on
I been with fedex express for 13 years. For the pass 5 years I been a part time courier I had a route that started at 1200-1900. Around May we got a new manager so I called in one day sick. He didn't pay me for that day cause I didn't bring a dr note the next day. Two weeks later he suspended and gave me a letter. So when I return back to work from my suspension. My route was gone n he gave it to someone with less seniority this person just been with FedEx for like 4 years. So my manager gave me a new route starting at 1500 to 1900 barely 4 hours of work. Yes our station EMTA is full of discrimination towards the older employees and race. The new employees with like 3 years or less get more favor than us the older kats.

Posted by

on
First off, at the time I was hired in 2007 I was 41 years old. They were hiring everybody...Black, White, Indian ,Asian, Latino...young , old , men and women alike...The real issue that was very clear was that women were given the easy package sorting jobs, and the men had to do the heavy lifting jobs...The women sorted the overnight 8 x11 envelopes and the men had to sort all the heavy boxes sometimes for 2 hours straight...The women were getting paid just as much and even more in many cases to do the easy jobs...Talk about unfair...Nobody wants to talk about how men are exploited due to women counterparts being physically unable to do the job they are paid to do..Men need to be paid more in these cases...If they actually let women try to do the heavy lifting jobs Fed ex would fall on its face...The ability to move as many packages as they move in a day would be severely diminished.. You might as well close the doors at Fed Ex if you did that...

Posted by

on
This is so true. Fed Ex freight Mira Loma doesnt even make an attempt of hidding its discrimnation agianst worker over 40. All promotions are given to the younger workers regardless of experience or qualifications. Work assignments are handed out based upon age also. The younger employee will usually be handed out more productive assignments that require less effort to complete. This allow them more time to converse with fellow employee's(usually another young worker), and thus, get insights into up coming promotions, or openings that may be arissing in the near future. When confonting management, the answere they give is the younger worker is more productive. This statement is given without thought to the way the assignments are given or handed out. 90 percent of the time when staying longer hours is needed, the younger workers are allowed to go home while the older are made to stay. This is controlled again by the way work assignments are handed out. Should one complain, a hostile environment is created, as the lower manangement is not known for keeping things to themselfs, and there is a lot of cronism. I cannot believe that upper management isnt aware of this as this is all in plain site

Posted by

on
we all need to work together to get this resolved it should never be this stressful at a job that you have to smile at your customers everyday no matter what your manager did that day to ruin your day and let you know how much of a bad employee you are

Posted by

on
This is so commonplace at FedEx Express. And the company does whatever it can to keep things like this out of the mainstream news. They operate thru intimidation, witholding of hours to work and opportunity. They also pressure us to not have lates, yet hammer you with unrealistic goals. They preach people, service, profit, yet the truth is PROFIT PROFIT PROFIT! And we are paid far less than what our competitors are paid. If I didnt have 15 years with the company, Id be looooong gone.

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