EEOC accuses Texas Roadhouse of employment age discrimination

BOSTON—Restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse Inc. has for years illegally discriminated against applicants for hourly “front-of-the-house” positions, such as servers and hosts, because they were 40 or older, a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission charges.

The age discrimination suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, alleges that the Louisville, Ky.-based chain has hired few older employees for the public positions since at least 2007, the EEOC said Monday.

The suit seeks, among other things, an undetermined amount of monetary damages for applicants found to have been denied employment because of their age, adoption of policies to prevent age discrimination, and training for the restaurant chain's managers and employees.

Age discrimination violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the EEOC said in a statement. The commission said it filed suit after first attempting to reach a settlement.

A spokesman for Texas Roadhouse said the restaurant chain is "an equal opportunity employer, and we deny the EEOC's allegations" that the restaurant discriminated based on age in its hiring practices.

Hiring instructions

Among the charges, the suit alleges that Texas Roadhouse instructed its managers to hire younger applicants. The EEOC also noted that images of employees in the restaurant's training and employment manuals all are young people.

The commission alleged that Texas Roadhouse told older unsuccessful applicants across the nation that “there are younger people here who can grow with the company” and made other remarks indicating a preference for younger workers.

“Applicants rarely know that they have been denied a job because of their age,” Mark Penzel, senior trial attorney in the EEOC's Boston office, said in the statement. “When the commission uncovers such evidence, it will act aggressively to remedy the violation.”