Eli Lilly class action alleges company discriminates against older workers

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Eli Lilly discrimination class action lawsuit overview: 

• Who: Monica Richards filed a class action lawsuit against Eli Lilly & Co. and Lilly USA LLC. 
• Why: Richards claims Eli Lilly discriminates against its older employees by passing them up for promotions in favor of their younger co-workers. 
• Where: The class action lawsuit was filed in Indiana federal court. 

Eli Lilly & Co. engages in discrimination against its older employees by systematically denying them promotions and giving them, instead, to their younger workers, a new class action lawsuit alleges. 

Plaintiff Monica Richards claims Eli Lilly has been discriminating against older employees since 2017 to correct what she alleges the company “perceives as a skew toward older employees in its national workforce.” 

Richards argues Eli Lilly, during this time, has attempted to retain its millennial-aged workers by offering them promotions over their older counterparts, even if the latter are equally or more qualified for the positions. 

“Eli Lilly’s older workers, including Plaintiff, have thus routinely been denied promotions on the basis of their age,” the Eli Lilly class action states. 

Richards wants to represent a nationwide class of Eli Lilly employees who are over the age of 40 and who have been denied a promotion within the relevant class period. 

EEOC filed similar suit against Eli Lilly last year

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Eli Lilly last year over claims the company “systematically failed to hire older employees for pharmaceutical sales representatives,” according to the class action. 

“The EEOC alleged further that … Eli Lilly managers nationwide changed hiring practices and preferences to hire younger candidates for sales representative positions,” the Eli Lilly class action states. 

A pair of individuals filed a similar class action lawsuit against the company in 2021, arguing the company rejected the job applications of older people in favor of younger candidates. 

Richards claims Eli Lilly is in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Massachusetts Anti-Discrimination Law. 

Plaintiff is demanding a jury trial and requesting declaratory and injunctive relief along with an award of compensatory, punitive, liquidated, statutory and regulatory damages for herself and all class members. 

Have you been discriminated against in the workplace due to your age? Let us know in the comments. 

The plaintiff is represented by Jeffrey A. Macey of Macey Swanson LLP and Harold L. Lichten, Thomas Fowler, and Matthew Patton of Lichten & Liss-Riordan PC. 

The Eli Lilly discrimination class action lawsuit is Richards, et al. v. Eli Lilly & Co., et al., Case No. 1:23-cv-00242, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

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