Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida will pay $1.8 million to settle an age discrimination lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced September 25. Enterprise Leasing Company operates National, Enterprise, and Alamo car rental services in Florida.
The settlement ends a federal suit — EEOC v. Enterprise Leasing Company of Florida — charging that the rental car company since at least 2019 had systemically refused to hire applicants aged 40 or older for a management trainee position. Despite older workers making up 15% of applicants, they accounted for less than 3% of hires — a disparity that the EEOC cited as evidence of intentional discrimination.
The three-year consent decree requires Enterprise to implement: new age discrimination policies, annual training, an applicant tracking system, and a reporting hotline.
This case underscores the EEOC’s heightened scrutiny of age discrimination and the power of statistical evidence in enforcement. Evidence of disparities in hiring data can signal risk and prompt legal action.
“Managing Civil Rights Compliance and Risk,” a course offered by the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC), our affiliated nonprofit membership association, will discuss building a proactive civil rights compliance management framework. CWC members can read more here.