Age Discrimination is Getting "Old"

Age discrimination is a growing problem in the hospitality and restaurant business throughout Florida and the U.S. If you’re a male bartender over forty (40) your chance of getting a job started decreasing as soon as you turned thirty, or maybe even before if you were applying on South Beach. If you are a woman over forty (40) your chances of moving up or even staying at the same level is getting harder, while the younger cute girls are taking your prime shifts. It seems many restaurant and bar owners, including corporations, think they need to have young cute girls and boys behind the bar to maximize profits.

Let’s take for example two restaurant chains that my firm has recently filed EEOC complaints against; Matteo's and Seasons 52.

I have been a big fan of Seasons 52 ever since they opened their store in Coral Gables. However, I have noticed that EVERY server is under 30. How on earth can that be? Well, after speaking with several very qualified over forty servers who have filled out applications and were interviewed, I can say that in my opinion, Seasons 52 discriminates against over forty (40) server applicants. Why, I can only guess because they want to keep the staff young. Why do they need a young staff? To make people feel “good” about eating at Seasons 52; “You don’t want some old person serving you, do you?” A few of the significant monetary benefits to the company might be:

1.      Lower health  and Workers’ Compensation insurance rates;

2.      Server staff is easier to control;

3.      Fewer employee lawsuits.

Remember, when you run a large corporation, the bottom line is what keeps you employed at the top.

If you would like more information about age discrimination, contact us. We are always available to answer questions to help keep you informed. If you have specific knowledge about any restaurant that refuse to hire over 40 staff  or Seasons 52 we would like to speak with you too. Remember, we are all getting older and having the safety net of working in the restaurant business is nice; if you can get hired when you are over 40!

Some of our other age discrimination cases:

Wowies Sports Bar and Grill

Tarpon Bend Coral Gables

Matteo’s Restaurant - UPDATE - The EEOC has found cause for our clients' age and sex discrimination claims - Two experienced male bartenders were replaced with under forty (40) female bartenders with less experience. Restaurant stated they "wanted to move in a different direction."