The owner of senior communities in 14 states will pay $650,000 to settle a race discrimination suit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced. The EEOC charged that a Fort Wayne senior community refused to hire African Americans and members of other racial groups for many years. The agency also said the facility failed to keep employment records, specifically application papers, as required by law.

According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Civil Action No. 1:05-CV-004, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Fort Wayne Division, Georgetowne Place, owned and operated by Seattle-based Merrill Gardens LLC, perpetrated a pattern and practice of shunning minorities because of their race and/or color. During the EEOC's investigation, Carol Felger, the former general manager for Georgetowne Place, stated that residents at the facility preferred white employees, and did not want minorities to come into their rooms.

The EEOC said that Felger, who made hiring decisions at Georgetowne Place, instructed her subordinates to mark job applications with post-it notes to inform her that a particular applicant was a minority. Felger herself reportedly placed a mark, which looked like a "Z," in the bottom left-hand corner on one page of applications she received from minorities so as to mark them for rejection. These hiring practices continued for at least nine years at Georgetowne Place, the EEOC charged.

The EEOC filed suit under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex (including sexual harassment or pregnancy), or national origin and protects employees who complain about such offenses from retaliation.

In addition to the payments to minority applicants, Merrill Gardens will pay for the costs of advertising in newspapers and on radio, up to $70,000, to locate and identify African Americans and other nonwhites who applied at Georgetowne Place between February 17, 1998, and April 18, 2005. Applicants are encouraged to contact the EEOC at (317) 226-7226. The court will conduct a fairness hearing on September 9, 2005, in Fort Wayne to make final decisions regarding the settlement.

The company will also pay $10,000 to the U.S. Treasury for failure to retain employment records and $100,000 to private counsel who filed a separate suit. Merrill Gardens will train all employees at Georgetowne Place on the requirements of Title VII, and, specifically, on non-discrimination in hiring, procedures to report known or observed discrimination in the workplace, and non-retaliation. The company will provide additional training to managers and supervisors. The agreement also requires that Merrill Gardens notify employees, applicants, and recruiting sources that the company will make all hiring decisions without regard to race and/or color. Additionally, the company will maintain employment records and make reports to the EEOC.