Is it unfair if a company that specializes in picking up and transporting heavy loads emphasizes hiring younger people over employing senior citizens? That's the federal government's position in the case of Meathead Movers, a California business that bills itself as offering "athlete movers" who are "clean-cut, strong, and professionally-trained." The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has spent years investigating the company for age discrimination and even filed a rare agency-initiated lawsuit against the company with no individual plaintiff claiming harm. Now, Arizona's Goldwater Institute is suing the EEOC to find out what's behind the federal bureaucracy's anti-meathead jihad.
Why Would You Prefer Strong, Young Movers?
"The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has filed suit against the San Luis Obispo moving company Meathead Movers, Inc., the largest independent moving company in California, for refusing to hire people based on age," the federal bureaucracy boasted in September of 2023. "The EEOC's lawsuit charges that since at least 2017, Meathead Movers failed to recruit and hire applicants over 40 into moving, packing and customer service positions. Meathead maintains a pattern or practice of recruiting and hiring young college students, intentionally excluding older workers regardless of their individual abilities."