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Elder Affairs sued for age bias...
lawsuit also
alleges gender discrimination
A former employee of the Department of Elder Affairs, which
advocates for the elderly, has filed an age-discrimination lawsuit
against the agency.
An
attorney for Ralph Rewes, a webmaster who resigned in November 2003,
said Monday it's not unusual for supervisors and workers in an
agency personally not to share the values embodied in laws they
enforce. Tallahassee lawyer Jim Garrity also said there is a youth
culture in many Florida agencies, favoring less-experienced
employees who stay a short time and don't cost the state as much in
salary and benefits.
Garrity
said Rewes, 64, had projects taken away from him, was moved to a
less-desirable office and had his performance belittled by managers.
In a six-page complaint filed in Leon County Circuit Court late last
month, Rewes said he suffered mental anguish and financial loss
because of the department's action and was "constructively
terminated" by a hostile work environment.
"It was
the kind of things an employer would do if they wanted to run you
off, without using the words, 'You're fired,'" said Garrity.
In a
separate lawsuit, Garrity also represents a former Elder Affairs
employee who was fired. He said Robert Meinhardt, 63, was overseeing
some grants programs for the department from June 1999 through
October 2001, when he was told his performance was unsatisfactory.
Rewes, who
worked at the department from Oct. 15, 1999, through Nov. 22, 2003,
also alleged gender discrimination in his suit. He said that he was
paid less than less-experienced women in his office and that his
duties in management-information systems were given to one or two
young women when he left the department.
Department
spokeswoman Martha Pratt said, "We have received Mr. Rewes' suit,
and our general counsel is reviewing it." She declined comment on
the allegations.
"Defendant
knew or should have known of the sex/gender-based discrimination
perpetrated against plaintiff (Rewes) and failed to take prompt and
adequate remedial action or took no action at all to prevent the
abuses to plaintiff," Marie Mattox, an attorney who works with
Garrity, wrote in the complaint. "The events set forth herein lead,
at least in part, to plaintiff's constructive termination."
The
complaint in a lawsuit gives only the plaintiff's side of the
issues. The state will file a response and contest the allegations.
Performance reviews in Rewes' personnel file were favorable. In one
annual review, supervisor Joan Spanhower wrote that "Ralph does an
outstanding job at keeping our Web sites and Web products up to
date."
Rewes made
$36,000 a year when he resigned. Efforts to reach him Monday were
unsuccessful.
"It's
interesting," said Garrity, who like Mattox handles many
state-employment cases. "Not everyone who goes to work for a
mission-specific agency necessarily shares the agency's mission."
The Elder
Affairs Department's duties include advocacy on behalf of laws and
government regulations protecting people over 60. Rewes had filed
complaints with the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prior to taking court
action.
Garrity
said Meinhardt, 63, was an executive for the Eckerd drugstore
corporation for many years and decided to go back to work after
moving to Tallahassee. His suit was filed in February of 2003, he
said, and includes allegations of race discrimination as well as age
and gender bias.
Garrity
said Meinhardt, who is white, contended that department supervisors
sometimes made race-based decisions on job assignments and personnel
actions.
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