Ex-scouts are suing MLB for ageism
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Seventeen former Major League Baseball scouts who said they were discriminated against because of their age sued the league, its teams and commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Denver. The former scouts allege violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, along with laws in 11 states and New York City.
The scouts, ranging from 55 to 71, claim they were discriminated against between 2020 and 22. They say MLB and the teams “acted to prevent or deny the reinstatement of senior Scouts.”
They also say an MLB provision that compensates scouts’ salaries when they sign with a new team — but are still paid by a previous team they were fired from — is discriminatory.
MLB said in a statement it “looks forward to refuting these claims in court,” but would not comment on pending litigation.
The ex-scouts also allege that MLB terminated a list of scouts eligible for employment in 2015, that the decision to terminate the MLB Scouting Bureau in 2018 was discriminatory, and that MLB used analytics and the coronavirus pandemic as pretexts to take out older scouts.
“This lawsuit is about ageism within a sport that supposedly values history, tradition and putting the best possible product on the field,” Kilgore & Kilgore attorney Mitchell C. Abeita said in a statement.
The plaintiffs are led by former Chicago Cubs scout James S. Benedict, who was fired in 2020. They are pursuing class action certification.
The former scouts allege violations of laws in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Utah.
