NEW ORLEANS – J&M Industries, Inc., a manufacturing and distribution company based in Ponchatoula, Louisiana, violated federal law when it fired an employee because of her age after she refused to retire when she turned 65 years old, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit filed today.

According to the EEOC’s lawsuit, a company manager asked an employee repeatedly about retirement as she approached her 65th birthday, including directly asking her, “When are you going to retire,” “Why don’t you retire at 65,” and “What is the reason you are not retiring?” After telling the company she had no plans to retire, the company informed the employee her position of purchasing agent was being eliminated due to economic uncertainty. Less than a month after firing the employee, the company hired a man in his thirties as a new purchasing agent, the same position the company claimed to have eliminated.

Such alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits discrimination against individuals forty or older because of age. The EEOC filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (Civil Action No. 2:23-cv-01100) after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its conciliation process.

“An employer cannot fire someone because of age and cannot pressure an employee to retire simply because she turns 65,” said Rudy Sustaita, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Houston...

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