Skip to main content

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

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

NLRB: Discussion Among Employees About Tip Pooling is Protected Concerted Activity

  This Advice Memorandum from the National Labor Relations Board’s Associate General Counsel, Jayme Sophir, addressed whether employees which discussed and complained about tip pooling at work constituted protected concerted activity. In relevant part, an employer in New York operated a chain of steakhouses.  While tip pooling was in place at these steakhouses, some of the employees objected to it on the grounds that it was not transparent and improperly divided tips among the workers.  Employees were told not to complain or talk to each other about the tip pool and were told that doing so would endanger their jobs.  Despite the employer later attempting to provide some clarity as to how the tips were being divided, rancor still existed among some employees.  At one point, the employees were told by a general manager that some employees that had been talking about the tip pool were “cleared out” and the employer would continue to do so. In the Advice Memorandum,...
Post a Comment
Read more

San Diego Rolls Back Vaccine Mandate For City Workers

Last Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to do away with the vaccine mandate for city employees. The city’s vaccine mandate that was in place required city workers to get the coronavirus vaccine or risk termination.  Perhaps to this surprise of no one, the city’s policy came under fire with 14 employees being terminated and over 100 other employees resigning.  With the coronavirus subsiding, including in Southern California, the San Diego City Council took action. Now, bear in mind, the repeal of the vaccine mandate does not take place immediately. With that being said, the mandate will be repealed March 8th.  I suppose the question now is, what other cities or regions follow San Diego’s lead? For additional information:   https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2023-01-24/san-diego-repeals-controversial-covid-19-vaccine-mandate-citing-drop-in-cases-hospitalizations
Post a Comment
Read more

NLRB: Former Employee Cannot Be Barred From Work Premises After Filing Wage Suit

MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC - NLRB Facts :  MEI-GSR Holdings, LLC d/b/a Grand Sierra Resort & Casino ("GSR") operated a facility that included a hotel, casino, restaurant, clubs, bars, and a pool which were all open to the general public.  Tiffany Sargent ("Sargent") was briefly employed by GSR as a "beverage supervisor" in December of 2012.  After her employment ended, Sargent continued to socialize at one of the clubs.  GSR had a long standing practice of allowing former employees to patronize its facility and did not prohibit Sargent from doing so.  In June of 2013, Sargent and another employee filed a class and collective action against GSR for alleged unpaid wages, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act and Nevada law.  In July of 2014, GSR denied Sargent access to an event at one of the clubs.  GSR followed up with a letter and stated that with the on-going litigation (from the wage suit), it decided to bar Sargent from the premises. ...
1 comment
Read more