Posted by Zach Vinson.
This article in summary talks about a moving company in California called “Meathead Movers” which is facing a lawsuit from the Equal employment opportunity commission on charges of age discrimination in labor markets. This company faced these complications as they were boasting about how their employees are all very young and able-bodied student athletes. Meatheads moving pride themselves on having a work staff made up of very hard workers who move heavy objects to a truck and to run back and grab more. Not only do they value high production and capabilities but on their social media they only portray young, attractive, and very fit men. The EEOC highlighted this marketing technique as ageist and deterring the
These standards sparked controversy as critics claimed they were displaying prejudice to the older working population as they were making assumptions based off physical appearance rather than talent during the hiring process. In response to these allegations, Meathead movers stated that they do not discriminate on age, and they are in fact “100% open to hiring anyone at any age if they can do the job”. The problem that arises, and why the demographic of their staff is on average younger, is because a majority of the work they do aligns with the interests of men around the college age. On the other hand, adults typically do not want to be constantly running around and exerting energy and therefore less older adults tend to even apply.
In summary, topics such as age discrimination may be a very grey area, as there is no clear definition and answers may result based on certain intricacies of each scenario. In all, my name is Zach Vinson, I am currently in my junior year at Seton Hall University in the Stillman School of Business, and I am studying business management. With my accumulated knowledge thus far, my educated opinion is that I believe that how Meathead Moving is currently operating is ethically justified. With labor intensive jobs such as a moving company it consists of very physically demanding work and being young is beneficial as you are constantly moving stuff which may suggest that a more agile body increases production. While this company does tend to hire mainly younger employees, as previously stated, they are not specific to only these individuals. Just because what the job entails may just so happen to cater towards the younger crowd, this does not mean they are completely against hiring older workers as well.
Zach is a management student at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2025.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/09/news/meathead-movers-sued-by-feds-for-age-discrimination/