Eight sales people terminated from homebuilder Lennar Corp. in 2007 in Las Vegas are now suing the company, alleging age discrimination because young, attractive females remained on the payroll after the older workers were fired.
Attorneys with the law firm Marquis Aurbach Coffing filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on behalf of Julienne Dow, Carol Gerenstein, Cheryl Huey, Gregory M. Kozlowich, Marilyn Valdez, Patrice Catalli, Sandra Rennewanz and William Gilbert.
The suit says Lennar terminated all the plaintiffs -- and eight others -- in December 2007 at a time when they were over the age of 40.
"Lennar replaced plaintiffs with employees under the age of 35. Lennar replaced plaintiffs with new home sales consultants who possessed substantially less experience (and qualifications) selling new homes," the lawsuit charges.
Dow, for instance, was hired in 2003 and received numerous awards for her high sales volumes -- but was terminated at age 66 and has had difficulty finding permanent employment and has been forced to subsidize her health insurance benefits, the lawsuit said.
Some of the sales consultants had difficulty selling homes at particular communities because the home prices were inflated, competitors offered better deals and one was located next to a graveyard, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit says that between November 2006 and December 2007, Lennar hired about 17 new home consultants in Las Vegas who ranged in age from their early 20s to early 30s.
None were over 35, the suit says.
"The younger replacements generally had little to no prior experience as new home sales consultants," the suit says, adding some were not licensed to sell real estate and they "substantially consisted of attractive, young females."
These young replacements had lower sales, yet kept their jobs after December 2007 when the older workers were terminated, the lawsuit says.
Lennar management, including CEO Stuart Miller, told sales agents in 2004 the company was moving in a new direction and intended to hire younger, less experienced sales consultants, the suit says.
Mike DeSilva, a division president, asked Valdez in 2004 "aren’t you ready to retire soon?” the lawsuit says.
The suit claims that between January and December 2007, Lennar began transferring older new home consultants from attractive, productive locations to less-desirable communities while giving the choice assignments to the younger replacements, the suit says.
"Lennar made these reassignments in an effort to force plaintiffs to quit or resign from Lennar," the suit charges.
It says that of 20 new home consultants terminated on Dec. 10, 2007, 16 were over the age of 40.
Miami-based Lennar declined comment on the suit, which alleges violations of the federal Age Discrimination In Employment Act of 1967 and violations of a Nevada anti-discrimination law.