Auto Parts Company Settles Race, Age Discrimination Lawsuit With South Jersey Man, 4 Others: Authorities

New Jersey-based Continental Auto Parts has agreed to pay a Lindenwold man $55,000 to resolve allegations that it didn’t hire him for a job based on his age and race, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and the Division on Civil Rights announced on Tuesday.

Anthony Sturgis, an African American in his 50’s, applied for a job as a driver at the Mount Laurel branch in November of 2012, and wasn’t hired despite being qualified and having experience, authorities said.
Sturgis had filled out an online application in response to the Craigslist employment ad.

The application included a resume that showed he had obtained his Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice, and had worked for many years as a delivery driver and in the security industry.

Within an hour, he received a telephone call from Continental’s Mount Laurel branch manager, who Sturgis said sounded enthusiastic on the phone.

However, the same branch manager was markedly cooler during the in-person interview the next day, Sturgis told investigators.

Sturgis also said the branch manager asked him questions about his age and state of health during the in-person interview. Both questions are prohibited in such a context by the LAD.

Sturgis said he was told he would receive a follow-up phone call to arrange a second interview, but he never did. Instead, he made several follow-up phone calls to Continental Auto Parts, but never heard from them again.

Continental has since closed the Mount Laurel facility and relocated its operations to a site in Pennsauken.
Investigators asked Continental to provide copies of all advertisements it had placed for delivery drivers, but Continental claimed it never placed any such ads, including during the time Sturgis submitted his resume in November of 2012.

However, a subpoena of Craigslist’s records showed that Continental had placed a help wanted ad for delivery drivers in November 2012. That ad was the one to which Sturgis responded.

Following this revelation, a company representative blamed the discrepancy on a “disconnect” between the Mount Laurel branch and human resources personnel at Continental’s headquarters.

Furthermore, the investigation concluded that after interviewing and not hiring Sturgis at the end of 2012 – and not hiring at least four other qualified applicants with significant experience as professional drivers, who ranged in age from 43 to 61 -- Continental continued to solicit driver applications for its Mount Laurel location.

In early 2013, the company placed the same driver wanted ad that Sturgis had answered in 2012. Shortly after placing the ad, Continental hired two new delivery drivers – the first in March 2013, and the second in April 2013.

Both new hires were considerably younger and less experienced than Sturgis and the four other applicants who were passed over.

In addition to the settlement with Sturgis, the auto parts company has agreed to pay another $20,000 to the four other driver applicants, each of whom was allegedly passed over because of their age. They will receive $5,000 each. Their identities were not provided by the Attorney General's Office.

Continental Auto Parts will be subject to State monitoring of its hiring practices for the next two years. The auto parts company operates multiple facilities in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York.

Specifically, Continental must report to the Division on a quarterly basis on non-managerial hiring practices at its Pennsauken facility, as well as at any additional facilities the company opens in New Jersey during the two-year period.

For purposes of the settlement, “non-managerial” hiring includes delivery drivers, sales staff, warehouse staff and other clerical and office positions.

The quarterly monitoring reports must include copies of any advertisement placed by Continental for employees or contractors, the number of applications received in response to each advertisement, the total number of applications received for each position, and the total number of individuals hired for each position – including race, age and gender of the persons hired.

• Review and revise its policies and procedures addressing discrimination and harassment in the workplace to ensure they comply with state and federal law.
• Provide training on state and federal anti-discrimination requirements – including avoidance of any unlawful inquiries during the hiring process -- to all human resources personnel, managers, supervisors and other employees involved in hiring decisions in New Jersey.
• Refrain from inquiring as to the age or date of birth of any job applicant, and refrain from requiring a job applicant to supply any document that may contain the applicant’s age or date of birth as part of the employment screening process. (The company can, however, inquire as to an applicant’s date of birth or require documents that may contain the applicant’s age or date of birth only after a bona fide offer of employment has been made to the applicant.)
• Review and revise its policies concerning record retention. As part of its review, Continental must ensure that all business records are maintained in accordance with the time frame and other criteria required by law. The company also must train all employees involved in hiring decisions on its revised record retention policies. During the two-year monitoring period, the company must make available -- upon request by the Division -- any job applications and other materials retained during the hiring process.