Dive Brief:
- Cedar Fair, L.P., doing business as Magnum Management Corp. and Ohio-based amusement park Cedar Point, must pay $50,000 to settle an age discrimination suit brought forth by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency announced March 20.
- EEOC alleged Cedar Fair and Magnum offered housing to seasonal, out-of-town employees housing at below-market rates. For the amusement park’s 2021 and 2022 seasons, the park banned certain workers aged 30 years and older from its housing, meaning older workers were essentially priced out of their seasonal jobs thanks to the ban.
- The policy was changed at the start of the 2023 season. EEOC Cleveland Field Office Director Dilip Gokhale noted that older workers are a “vital component of the seasonal workforce at theme parks and other entertainment venues.”
Dive Insight:
Citing the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which protects workers 40 years and older, the EEOC brought a case against the amusement park. “In addition to providing former employees monetary relief, the five-year consent decree settling the suit provides for systemic non-monetary relief intended to prevent further age discrimination,” the agency stated.
Not only must Cedar Fair’s housing policy be fair to older talent, but Cedar Fair and Magnum must also provide ADEA training to employees.
“We are pleased that Cedar Fair and Magnum have agreed to an early resolution of this litigation and have rescinded the housing policy denying housing benefits to older seasonal workers,” Debra Lawrence, a regional attorney for the EEOC, said in a press release.
EEOC has tackled a number of age discrimination suits in recent months.
In February, the agency announced that a Texas-based car dealership must pay $145,000 to settle claims it fired a long-time employee after heart surgery. The agency also that month announced a Louisiana manufacturing plant must pay $105,000 to settle allegations that it fired a worker who wouldn't retire, and sued a Georgia-based senior living facility for allegedly firing a 78-year-old receptionist due to her age and disability.
