Dillard's Inc. will pay $50,000 and offer additional relief to settle an age discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on behalf of a Cary employee.
According to the EEOC's complaint, Dillard's fired Virginia Keene from her position as an area sales manager at the store in Cary in November 2008. At the time she was 61 years old. The company then replaced her with a 24-year-old employee who only had four months of experience as an area sales manager. At the time of her termination, Keene ranked second out of six area sales managers at the Cary store in terms of sales, the EEOC said.
The suit alleged that the Arkansas-based retailer violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which prohibits employers from firing workers because of their age.
Dillard's declined to comment.
Retail reporter Sue Stock came to the N&O in 2004 and has been covering retail and shopping in the Triangle since then. She is the author of the popular