Unit 4 - Assignment “EEOC vs Lilly USA, LLC”- “A Look into Age Discrimination”
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HR400-01: Employment & Staffing
“EEOC vs Lilly USA, LLC”: “A Look into Age Discrimination”
7/30/2023
“EEOC vs Lilly USA, LLC”: “A Look into Age Discrimination”
1
Provide the name of the case you chose and the reference
information.
The name of the case I selected was “EEOC v. Lilly USA, LLC,” “Case No.
1-22-cv-01882.” The references listed are from an article found in the Purdue
Library database referencing the case specifically. I also found an article
directly from the “plaintiff” of the case the U.S. Equal Opportunity
Commission.
Assess (evaluate) the type of discrimination that was the basis
of the case.
The type of discrimination in this case was age-based discrimination. The
lawsuit was brought to court due to allegations of discrimination towards
the older demographic in the workforce. “Lilly USA” also known as “Eli
Lilly” is a pharmaceutical conglomerate that was accused of not hiring
older applicants for their sales representative positions. The allegations
span over a four-year period 2017-2021 (Singh, V. (2022, Sep 27).
Identify the law or laws involved.
Any type of discrimination in the workplace is unethical and
should not be tolerated. Laws and regulations were put into place to
deter and potentially prevent any events of discrimination in the
workplace but as you can imagine there are still lawsuits all the time.
This case allegedly violates the “
Age Discrimination in Employment
Act
” which forbids discrimination against any applicants that are 40
years or older (Singh, V. (2022, Sep 27).
2
Provide a summary of what happened that led to the
discrimination claim.
It is on the record that in 2017, “Lilly USA” Senior Vice President of
Human Resources and Diversity announced a new initiative called “Early
Career” aimed at recruiting more younger workers also known as
“millennials.” Shortly before this new initiative rolled out, the same vice
president also disclosed during a leadership meeting that Lilly’s workforce
was a majority of forty-plus-year-old workers.
After the “Early Career” initiative rolled out, “Eli Lilly’s” recruitment
strategy changed drastically. The company then began to only consider
millennials or the younger demographic for their sales representative
positions. This resulted in many older candidates getting turned down for
these positions. This became more evident as most of the older applicants
did not receive callbacks and the ones that were in consideration for the
position required additional evaluation and longer recruiting processes. This
was also apparent with the majority of the salesforce being younger or under
forty years of age. Applicants who believe they were discriminated against
reported their situations to the “EEOC”. “Eli Lilly” continued the “Early
Career” initiative until 2021. This is around the time the “EEOC” filed the
case against “Eli Lilly” (Singh, V. (2022, Sep 27).
Provide a summary of the key elements of the law or laws
involved.
3
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The law prohibits discrimination of any kind in the workplace, at least
in the United States. The “EEOC” is looking to prevent other cases of
discrimination in the future. The suit is looking to compensate these
applicants that were allegedly discriminated against. This caused
damages such as loss of potential earnings, hardship, suffering, etc. The
other major factor here is to educate “Eli Lilly’s” manager and the Human
Resources department. Fines, increased regulation, and public image are
all causes for concern after a case like this. The “EEOC’s” main objective
is to let companies know discrimination will not be tolerated. “Eli Lilly’s”
senior HR manager retired in August 2022 after the case was filed (
Lilly
USA Sued by EEOC for Nationwide Age Discrimination
, (2022, September
26).
Recommend what the organization could have done differently
to prevent the case from occurring.
“Eli Lilly” should have included everyone in their new initiative instead
of just specific demographics such as millennials. It is said that “Eli Lilly”
was targeting for sixty percent of their sales force to be millennial
applicants rather than their existing culture of older employees. They
should have made the initiative inclusive and treated all applicants the
same. I understand trying to make the work environment more diverse if
everyone is treated equally. If I ran “Eli Lilly” I would make sure there was
a program rolled out that ensures all current and new employees have
training on discrimination and other topics to prevent discrimination in the
4
workplace by educating everyone. The goals of the company should align
with the employees, the best way to ensure this is by using effective
communication.
Address diversity and affirmative action in your
recommendations.
“Eli Lilly” to this day still denies any wrongdoing and has been ordered
to pay restitution to these applicants that were discriminated against
(
Lilly USA Sued by EEOC for Nationwide Age Discrimination
, (2022,
September 26). They must now implement training protocols into their
operations to prevent future events of discrimination. If I were the CEO of
“Eli Lilly” I would have restructured my HR department and opened the
positions up and allow anyone who is qualified regardless of age, color,
gender, or national origin. I would just totally revamp the HR mission and
cater to actual diversity. Training programs would be rolled out to combat
discrimination, harassment, or any type of wrongdoing. These programs
would be completed annually, and new hires receive the training during
the onboarding process. Policies would be re-written for discrimination
and any type of discrimination in the future at the “Eli Lilly” company
would be inexcusable and would result in automatic termination. I would
also use company resources to donate to diverse groups such as the
Human Rights Campaign, NAACP & American Civil Liberties Union. This
would change the culture of the company's views on diversity drastically
in my opinion.
5
Reference Page
Singh, V. (2022, Sep 27). US Agency EEOC Files Lawsuit Against Eli Lilly
Over Nationwide Age Discrimination. Benzinga Newswires
6
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https://libauth.purdueglobal.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/wire-
feeds/us-agency-eeoc-files-lawsuit-against-eli-lilly/docview/2718077824/se-2
Lilly USA sued by EEOC for nationwide age discrimination. US EEOC.
(2022, September 26).
https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/lilly-usa-sued-eeoc-
nationwide-age-discrimination
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