EEOC details emerge in Season 52 lawsuit

The federal government will be allowed to pursue an investigation of an alleged pattern or policy of age discrimination at Darden Restaurant’s Seasons 52, after a new ruling in a lawsuit brought by the EEOC.

The order Friday from U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard sets the stage for a broader fight between the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Darden. The government will try to prove that Seasons 52 managers purposefully declined to hire older workers, as a matter of company policy.

“The EEOC has since discovered 151 actual claimants who allegedly suffered discrimination,” Lenard wrote in the order. “Given the preliminary rate of discovery, the EEOC also expects to uncover hundreds of more individuals.”

The EEOC sued Darden in February 2015, saying it discriminated against two male applicants at a restaurant in Coral Gables. The EEOC alleges that Seasons 52 wouldn’t hire two men, Anthony Scornavacca, then 52, and Hugo Alfaro, then 42, because of their age.

In January, the EEOC said its case against Darden could eventually refer to as many as 9,500 applicants.

The latest ruling means the government will have time to seek more evidence for the alleged pattern of discrimination at Darden’s Seasons 52 restaurant. The agency says they have, so far, identified individuals allegedly discriminated against at 28 restaurants from Coral Gables to Phoenix.

In a later phase of the case, the EEOC will address the merits of individual complaints.

Darden is fighting the lawsuit in court.

“The Court’s most recent ruling is procedural in nature,” said the statement from spokesman Rich Jeffers. “No determination has been made regarding the merits of any claim, and we remain confident that our hiring practices are compliant with all applicable regulations.”

Darden is Orlando’s only Fortune 500 company and has 150,000 workers at 1,500 restaurants nationwide. There are also about 1,000 workers at the corporate headquarters in Orlando.

The case has been stuck in a procedural argument for the last four months as Darden Restaurants and EEOC disputed how to proceed. Darden wanted to argue the merits of each allegation as a next step, which could have been costly and time-consuming. The EEOC, however, wanted to broaden the case to a policy or pattern of discrimination at all Seasons 52 restaurants, and the judge’s ruling allows that.

The EEOC will be looking for statistical evidence to show Darden intentionally shunned older workers and testimonies “detailing specific instances of discrimination.”

The order also gives the federal government more time to collect information.