The Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida has agreed to pay $1.8 million to settle a lawsuit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over age discrimination.
The EEOC sued the company -- which operates National, Enterprise and Alamo car rental services in Florida -- two years ago. It claims Enterprise discriminated against older applicants for its management trainee positions.
The Florida company, based in Coconut Creek, is a subsidiary of Enterprise Holdings.
Federal officials say that, since 2019, applicants 40 or older were 15% of job seekers for management training but less than 3% of those hired.
Applicants told the EEOC they were asked their age or graduation year; told that Enterprise wanted candidates fresh out of college, subjected to age-related comments or discouraged in other ways, according to an agency news release.
Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida released a statement saying it "does not tolerate discrimination of any kind, including failing to hire individuals on account of their age. We strongly deny allegations of wrongdoing. Individual hiring decisions for the management trainee program were fair, legitimate and non-discriminatory."
In a consent decree filed in federal court, the company does not admit wrongdoing, but it does agree to publicize anti-discrimination rules, track its performance, train recruiters and managers, maintain an ethics hotline, pay $1.8 million and set up a claims process to distribute those funds.
Discriminating against workers 40 and older is illegal under the U.S. Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.
"Over a third of the adult workforce in the United States is age 50 or older," EEOC regional attorney Kristen Foslid said in a prepared statement. "Employers cannot overlook qualified applicants simply because of their age."
The EEOC announced the settlement on Thursday. It was approved by a U.S. district judge in the Southern District of Florida on Wednesday.
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