NEWARK, N.J. -- The federal watchdog against workplace bias charged that one outlet of the nation's leading retailers is harassing and firing workers over age 40 simply because of their age.
A T.J. Maxx store in Essex County subjected older employees to a "hostile work environment" through unfair discipline, verbal harassment and "overt hostility" since August 1995, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
T.J. Maxx is part of TJX Cos., the world's largest off-price apparel retailer, which also owns the Marshalls home-goods stores. Its headquarters in Framingham, Mass., were closed on Friday. Messages left for company officials were not returned.
TJX last year had 577 T.J. Maxx stores, 457 Marshalls stores, 68
Winners
Apparel Ltd. stores in Canada, 21 HomeGoods off-price home fashions
stores
and 20 T.K. Maxx off-price apparel stores in the United Kingdom.
It reported sales of $6.7 billion in 1996.
The EEOC made the claims in a class-action lawsuit filed in November in U.S. District Court, focusing on a 57-year-old saleswoman fired from a T.J. Maxx store in West Caldwell. TJX is due to file a response to the charges later this month. The lawsuit gave no indication how many older workers were subject to unlawful treatment.