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DALLAS (AFX) - Eighteen former employees of The Dallas Morning News have filed suit against the newspaper, alleging their layoffs two years ago were the result of age discrimination.
Defendants named in the lawsuit include the newspaper, Publisher James M. Moroney III, parent company Belo Corp., Belo Chairman and Chief Executive Robert W. Decherd, and retirement plans at the paper. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Dallas.
Belo spokesman Carey Hendrickson said: "We believe the complaint is without merit and intend to defend against it vigorously."
The former staffers, mostly reporters or editors, said they were all older than 40 years old -- and many were older than 50 -- when they were laid off in October 2004.
The lawsuit charges that Dallas-based Belo, the Morning News and other defendants violated a federal law against age discrimination, interfered with the former staffers' pension rights, failed to disclose changes in pension plans, and conspired to cover up inflated circulation figures.
The employees are seeking compensation for lost wages and benefits and civil penalties against the defendants for what they claimed were willful violations of anti-bias law.
In the lawsuit, the former employees claim that -- before the layoffs -- the paper replaced older newsroom department heads with younger managers who made derogatory comments about older workers, including accusing them of failing to adapt to new technology.
The plaintiffs suggested that 14 of the 18 involved in the lawsuit may have been targeted because they were among a dwindling number of workers in an older pension plan with richer benefits for longtime employees. Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
