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Age, sex discrimination to cost medical device manufacturer $1 million

Posted On: Mar. 8, 2016 12:00 AM CST

A Minnesota medical device and equipment manufacturer has agreed to pay $1 million to settle an age and sex discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which it was charged with refusing to hire qualified applicants for outside sales positions because they were female or over age 40, the agency said Monday.

The EEOC said between Jan. 1, 2007 and late 2010, Chanhassen, Minnesota-based PMT Corp. hired more than 70 individuals as sales representatives, but not a single successful applicant was either female or more than 40 years old. The company was charged with violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The $1 million will be paid to the job applicants who were rejected for sales positions and to a former human resources employee who notified the EEOC that she believed the company was engaging in discriminatory practices.

Among other settlement terms, the company will be monitored by the EEOC for the next four years and be required to revise its hiring practices for sales representatives to ensure they will be considered on the basis of merit, not age or gender.

The company said in a statement it “continues to deny the allegations made in the lawsuit. PMT follows all of the requirements of the law, and will continue to do so. The decision was made to enter into the consent decree to put an end to this multiple year-long litigation so the focus returns to the business of providing life-saving products to patients all over the world.”

In July, 2015, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Co. of Los Angeles L.L.C., which was charged with failing to hire management trainees who were over 40, agreed to pay $425,000 to settle an age discrimination suit filed by the EEOC.