Discussion Post
Consider the following scenario:
Rachella Ramirez is the Marketing VP for Sunbright T-Shirt LLC (STS). The company makes trendy t-shirts and sells them in mall kiosks, on Amazon, and on Woot.com, throughout the U.S. STS has 250 employees and is rapidly growing. However, the "new product line" division is struggling, and Rachella feels it is due to too many older employees who are not up on the new trends of their customers. She decides to do a few things to fix the problem. Here are her actions:
• She creates 20 job openings in the new product division. She then directs her recruiting specialist to post the jobs on Indeed, Monster, and on a garment association website, stating that STS is looking for "recent college graduates with product design, marketing, or fashion design" degrees to help design new t-shirts.
• She sends a note to the current department head of the product design team to downgrade all of his over 55 employees' performance reviews this year so that none achieve more than a 3 on a 5-point scale.
• She is overheard by two employees, who are over 55, talking on the phone to the CEO, saying: "I know-that product design team is a real problem. When do you think these baby boomers will ever start retiring?" Then, after a pause: "Don't worry-I have this figured out."
• She puts together a voluntary early retirement package for all workers who are 55 and over, and who have worked for the company for more than 10 years, and sends it out to all of those workers. For each of the workers who does not take the offer, she works with HR to start them on performance plans as a result of their lowered performance evaluations.
Post a thoughtful and scholarly response based on a media and research that addresses the following:
a) Identify the elements of age discrimination as provided in the Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) and explain whether those elements exist in this scenario.
b) Identify instances of Rachella's behavior which could be considered disparate impact and which might be considered disparate treatment.
c) Briefly explain how this situation might result in a lawsuit.
The response must include a reference list. Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, double-space, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.