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Sound the Horn: Age Discrimination Lawsuit Filed Against Dallas Opera


On Monday, an age discrimination, hostile work environment, and retaliation lawsuit was filed against the Dallas Opera by a former horn player, William Scharnberg.  In the alleged facts, Scharnberg claims that after nearly 30 years playing for the Opera, he was terminated in May 2016 and replaced with a 'much' younger player in his 20's.  This came on the heels of a prior attempt following the 2014 - 2015 season by the Opera to terminate his employment on the grounds of his playing style (the facts do not go into specifics, but presumably the Opera believed his playing style fell off, was not in accordance with what was expected of a horn player, etc).  However, Scharnberg appealed that initial attempt to terminate his employment and a unanimous decision was reached to retain him.  However, Scharnberg was terminated in 2016 on the grounds of his playing style.  At the time of his termination, Scharnberg was 67.

In the petition filed in Court on Monday, Scharnberg identified several other members of the Opera (also in their 60's) who had recently been terminated or encouraged to retire and subsequently replaced with younger players in their 20's.  Scharnberg alleged a link between a new Opera CEO (hired in 2010) and a conductor (hired in 2014) to show that they created a hostile work environment meant to discriminate against older players in the Opera by terminating them because of their age, only to replace them with younger and 'inexperienced' players.

This case is pending in Judge Maricela Moore's court in the 162nd District in Dallas.  I have not been before this Judge yet, as she was just elected to the bench this past November.  As a result, it is difficult to say how this case will proceed, although a jury demand was made by Scharnberg with the filing of his petition.  At this point, the Opera has yet to file an answer, but it will be interesting to see this case progress once litigation ramps up.



Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 30, 2019 at 3:17 PM

    This was settled out of court in 2018. The parties agreed to mediation and settled thereafter, with the case being dismissed with prejudice as requested by both parties.

    ReplyDelete

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