The EEOC has closed a St. Louis Sheriff’s Office discrimination case with an unusual profile: most of the employees found to have been targeted for termination were white, and the bias alleged was as much about age as race.
What happened
The EEOC settled 13 discrimination charges against the St. Louis Sheriff’s Office alleging race and age bias. Investigators found reasonable cause that former Sheriff Alfred Montgomery terminated nearly a dozen white employees and two Black employees in January 2025 without any performance review. Before taking office, Montgomery said in December 2024 that he could not wait to remove “top-heavy” employees, cited by the EEOC as evidence of age bias. The office denies wrongdoing but accepted a five-year conciliation agreement requiring updated employment policies and rights training for staff and managers.
Why it matters
“The EEOC is firmly committed to enforcing our nation’s civil rights laws evenhandedly, without favor or prejudice, to ensure all workers are protected,” said EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas. “Race discrimination is unlawful no matter who the target is, and employers must ensure their decisions are not based on bias or stereotype.” A leadership transition that treats incoming staff as disposable is now squarely inside the agency’s enforcement lane, as HRTech Edition reported when the EEOC pursued San Francisco’s DEI training records.
The original insight
A public pre-office comment about “top-heavy” staff, later matched to a termination pattern skewed toward older, tenured employees, gave the EEOC its evidence of intent. HR and legal teams advising on leadership transitions should treat public remarks about “resetting” headcount as discoverable, not just messaging. “Public employers hold tremendous responsibility toward the communities they serve,” said David Davis, director for the EEOC’s St. Louis District. “This settlement shows that EEOC will take action to ensure accountability and compliance with federal law.” The agency recently applied the same individual-treatment standard to a pay-bias settlement at Lely North America.
