EEOC violations from my point of view viewed as not valid by employer legal team – what are my options?

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EEOC violations from my point of view viewed as not valid by employer legal team – what are my options?

I was laid off under the guise of restructuring and flattening the
organization. Instead of my job, which I was told was eliminated, actually
being eliminated, it was given to a more junior male manager lacking the
qualifications of doing my job. I am a female 57 years of age. I have been
managing and delivering as a strong contributor of the organization for the
past 8 years. As a result of the actions of my employer, I filed a claim of
Standards of Business conduct violation internally. The lawyers who drove the
case, after interviewing many folks, deduced that there were no violations, and
that this was restructuring. I disagree with their deduction. They did offer to
double the severance in return of getting a signed waiver where I would never
work for the company ever again and that I would not file charges against them.
I am uncertain about this, and would like to discuss options and go through the
ramifications of taking them up on their offer. Time is of essence, as I need
to sign and return a form to them as soon as possible, along with my answer to
them.
regards

Asked on December 13, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, California

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 6 years ago | Contributor

While no one can say definitely whether you have a case or its strength based on a one-paragraph written question, the facts you describe suggest you suffered sex- and/or age-based discrimination, since your position was not in fact eliminated but was given to a younger (I presume that's in part what you mean by "junior") man. Had your job been eliminated or combined into another job/position (so 2 positions were merged into 1), this would appear to be a legitimate restructuring, but simply replacing an older woman with a younger man is not a restructuring: it is replaced an older woman with a younger male, and absent some other good reason (e.g. you'd had documented poor performance), that it typically illegal.
Contact an employment law attorney NOW--before signing anything--and discuss the matter in detail with him or her; what you write suggests that would be worth your while, since you may have an employment discrimination claim worth pursuing.


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