The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana said Lake County did not discriminate against a group of part-time senior workers fired in the midst of the county’s financial crisis following the recession.
Chief Judge David Hamilton recently agreed with an April 2016 lower court ruling that Lake County did not violate age discrimination laws when it let go a group of retirees who had taken a buyout package and returned as part-time workers, after it learned it would have to provide those employees with insurance.
The employees, who were identified as Aaron Carson, Charles Collins, John Curtis, Marty Dobrijevich, Donnie Jones, Catherine Koby, Gwen Lane, Matthew Lubarski, John J. McBride Sr., Janet Nickovich, Charles J. Podgorney, Pattie G. Podgorney, John D. Pruzin, Danny Sebben, Helen G. Sutton, Dennis Tobin, Camila A. Trevino, Marian Vukas and Susan Wyatt, in a complaint filed in May 2014 contended the county violated federal law by firing them due to their age.
The group ranged in age from 65 to 81 when they were fired from their positions in various departments throughout the county in September 2013.
“We affirm. We saw no evidence that the County engaged in age discrimination. Age was a necessary but insufficient factor in the County’s decision-making process,” according to the decision.
Hamilton wrote the key criterion that distinguished the terminated employees from all other county employees was not their age but rather their participation in the Aetna plan.
“The equal protection claim fails because the undisputed facts show that the County’s action was rationally related to a legitimate state interest: preserving supplemental insurance coverage for its retirees while avoiding further financial hardship,” the decision continued.
In 2008 and 2010, Lake County offered early retirement incentives to all Medicare-eligible employees who had at least five years of continuous service and were age 65 or older. The employees could select either a lump-sum payment or five years of supplemental health insurance at the same relatively low premium that full-time county employees paid for their health insurance package, the decision said. Retirees who selected the insurance package, the decision said, were also able to return to work part time or receive a small monthly stipend.
“There is no evidence that the county engaged in any prohibited stereotyping,” Hamilton wrote.
Lake County Commission President Micheal Repay, D-Hammond, said the win on appeal is good news for the county and its taxpayers.
“We felt like what we did was right. We felt like what we did was within the law. When the court agrees with you, it is always a nice thing,” Repay said.
Repay said the advice given to county officials on how to handle the situation regarding the workers was accurate and sound and followed to the letter.
“It’s a good thing for the board of commissioners and a good thing for the taxpayers of Lake County,” Repay said.
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