The D.C. Water and Sewer Authority has agreed to settle a federal age-discrimination lawsuit for roughly $217,000 after firing an experienced employee to install a younger and less qualified replacement.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which enforces federal workplace discrimination laws, said former human resources officer Courtney Titus was “one of multiple terminations of older workers” at DC Water in September 2023. He had worked at the independent public utility since 2017.
The federal agency filed the age-discrimination complaint in September after DC Water refused to agree to a pre-litigation settlement. It accuses the utility of replacing Mr. Titus, 54 at the time, with a 31-year-old worker.
“Older employees are too often targets of unfounded or stereotyped assumptions, from lack of tech savvy to slower pace of work,” Debra Lawrence, the commission’s Philadelphia District regional attorney, said Wednesday in a statement.
The commission argued that DC Water broke federal law by firing Mr. Titus without following “its own policies on performance notification, progressive discipline, and internal appeals.”
It remains unclear whether three other workers named in the lawsuit will also receive compensation. Court papers show that all were older than 50 when the utility replaced them with employees ages 34 to 45.
“DC Water is unable to comment on a confidential settlement,” spokeswoman Sherri Lewis said in a statement emailed to The Washington Times. “However, we have always been committed to adhering to federal, state, and local employment laws.”
The consent decree resolving the litigation also “prohibits future age discrimination and requires DC Water to take affirmative steps to prevent such unlawful conduct,” the employment commission said this week.
The commission said that includes “implementation of enhanced non-discrimination policies, notices to employees about their rights, and advanced training for DC Water’s human resources and management officials concerning federal law prohibiting discrimination, the company’s relevant non-discrimination and complaint policies, and the officials’ respective obligations under these policies.”
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