Like the Hooters of house moving, Meathead Movers, a California-based company, boasts about its young, muscle-bound employees. Their mission, since launching in Fresno in 1997, has been to hire student-athletes, and the company’s social media posts feature photos of the hunky guys pumping weights and lifting boxes.
Now Meathead Movers is being sued by the federal government for age discrimination.
Lest you think the Meatheads are all about looking good while they haul your goods into their trucks, the company is dedicated to “assisting victims of domestic violence with a fresh start in life,” according to its website.
“We use our talents to help those who need us most, victims of domestic violence,” the company states. “We’re passionate and determined to create change in the world. Through alliances with shelters and the #MoveToEndDV Movement, we pledge to move victims out of domestic violence situations for free.”
Real Men Don’t Hit Women.
For #DomesticViolenceAwarenessMonth Meathead Movers will be handing out these purple wristbands as we continue to provide free moves to brave victims and survivors fleeing abuse. Ask for one during your next move & tag us! #MoveToEndDV pic.twitter.com/tq5QGsgKGh
— Meathead Movers (@MeatheadMovers) October 5, 2022
Additionally, Meathead Movers’ “founding principle” is “to support athletes working in pursuit of their dream career path, and that will never change.”
“The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission [EEOC] sued Fresno, Calif.-based Meathead Movers this year for violating age-discrimination law by not hiring enough older workers,” the Wall Street Journal reports. “Employment attorneys and trade groups say the case will offer clues as to how the agency will approach antidiscrimination laws now that President Biden’s picks are installed.”
Company owner Aaron Steed denied discriminating against older workers.
“We are 100% open to hiring anyone at any age if they can do the job,” he told the Journal. “People love working at Meathead, or they are turned off by how hard it is. You have to move furniture and run to get more.”
We had quite the year… #HappyNewYear #StudentAthleteMovers pic.twitter.com/h6GyIAVgiq
— Meathead Movers (@MeatheadMovers) December 30, 2022
But, according to the EEOC — chaired by Charlotte Burrows, who vowed earlier this year to “vigorously enforce age-discrimination laws as older workers regularly face age bias, stereotypes and discrimination,” according to the Journal — Meathead’s marketing and hiring practices might just discourage older workers from applying. The company encourages employees to keep their eyes out at gyms, jock hangouts, and on college campuses for potential new recruits, the EEOC argued.
It’s called “discouragement bias,” the agency said, and it can manifest itself in job ads, marketing materials and job application questions.
Nicole St. Germain, a spokeswoman for the EEOC, warned, “Word-of-mouth is never a good way to recruit.”
It was the EEOC itself — not a complaint from a would-be worker — that instigated an investigation into Meathead Movers in 2017.
“The agency typically investigates companies after someone files a complaint,” the Journal notes. “It received more than 70,000 complaints in its latest year and filed 91 employment-discrimination lawsuits.”
Internal emails reviewed by the Journal revealed that the EEOC demanded $15 million from Meathead Movers in settlement negotiations before dropping the price to roughly $5 million. In response, “Meathead offered $750,000 to settle.”
The EEOC filed its lawsuit in September.
“We had no idea we were doing anything wrong by being a moving company that hires a lot of student athletes,” Steed said. “We want to change and evolve, but we can’t agree to go out of business doing it.”
How it started: How it’s going: pic.twitter.com/IE8dDYGhQg
— Meathead Movers (@MeatheadMovers) October 15, 2020
Bill Alvarado Rivera, senior vice president for litigation at AARP, which advocates for the rights of older people, backs the EEOC’s move.
“Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is over 50. I’m pretty sure he would be good at moving boxes,” Rivera said. “That kind of stereotype about who could be a good mover has no place in an economy that values individuals.”
But, according to Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute, lawsuits centering on age could backfire. If older employees are considered to be a liability risk, he argued, companies will be less likely to hire them.
“It is the most counterproductive of all the major areas of discrimination law,” he stated. “It makes them less employable late in their careers because they are known as litigation dangers.”
“A lot of jobs are just naturally held by young people,” Olson noted. “Early-career trainings are hard to square with the EEOC’s view.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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