AARP Services, Inc., an arm of American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), must pay approximately $2.1 million to a gay employee for illegally firing him in 2018.
A D.C. Superior Court jury on March 15 handed down a verdict favoring former AARP employee Richard A. Deus Jr. based on a “preponderance of the evidence” that Deus’s sexual orientation was a “substantial contributing factor” in the company’s decision to fire him, according to court documents.
The jury awarded Deus $1,612,916.18 in compensatory damages and $578,351 in damages for emotional distress, which AARP Services is required to pay, court documents show. The jury also awarded Deus $1,118.89 from AARP Services for its alleged breach of contract in its decision to fire him.
“I’m thrilled that the jury found that I was treated differently from my co-workers and discriminatorily fired,” Deus told the Washington Blade, a pro-LGTBQ+ online publication. “That’s clearly what they found, and they awarded emotional pain and suffering. But overall, I’m elated. It’s been six years of my life that I’ve been fighting and telling people that I was treated differently than anybody else and today I got my vindication.”
Deus, whose role at the company was director of Program Management, filed a lawsuit against AARP Services in May of 2018 after working for the company for 11 years. The lawsuit alleges that AARP Services violated the D.C. Human Rights Act by firing him after falsely accusing him of accepting gifts for travel from businesses affiliated with the company in violation of the company’s ethics policies.
Specifically, the company fired Deus for attending the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans with AARP partner Allstate and for accepting dinner and a show from an AARP vendor in New York — both incidences which Deus cleared with management before attending, the complaint alleges.
The lawsuit notes that “countless AARP employees have attended shows and sporting events, and received lunches and dinners paid by AARP vendors and partners…” The complaint alleges that none of those employees, all of whom are heterosexual, were fired for doing so.
“Terminating Plaintiff’s employment as a result of his work-related trip to the Allstate Sugar Bowl after his supervisor and the General Counsel’s office approved the trip and despite that other AARP employees participated in the same business-related activity without adverse actions being taken against any of them, is discriminatory on the basis of Plaintiff’s sexual orientation and marital status, in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act,” the complaint alleges, noting that Deus is married to another man.
“AARP has a policy and/or practice of levying harsh punishment on homosexual employees, bypassing the progressive disciplinary policies for homosexual employees. Heterosexual employees are permitted to participate in AARP’s progressive disciplinary process,” the complaint continues.
The complaint cites an example of another gay AARP employee, Jack Sanders, who had his social media account hacked, and then the hacker propositioned another AARP employee.
“Instead of properly investigating the matter, AARP quickly determined, incorrectly, that the homosexual employee had violated AARP policy. AARP later determined that the employees; social media had, in fact, been hacked,” the complaint alleges. “Instead of permitting the employee to participate in AARP’s progressive disciplinary process, AARP quickly terminated him.”
That employee filed his own lawsuit against AARP Services and a settlement was reached, according to the Washington Blade.
The lawsuit also alleges that AARP Services “attempted to recoup work-related expenses” that Deus was reimbursed by the company.
“As a result Plaintiff was referred to collections, which has had, and will continue to have a deleterious effect on Plaintiff’s credit rating,” the lawsuit reads, noting that all expense reports had been approved while he was at the company.
The complaint further alleges that company management were not trained to recognize or prevent workplace discrimination. AARP now appears to be engaged in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices, according to its website. For example, AARP says it gave a grant to Miami Beach Gay Pride, Inc. in 2021 for “The Legacy Couples Project,” which “recognizes same-sex couples who have been in committed relationships of ten years or longer.”
Breitbart News asked AARP for more information about its DEI program and the lawsuit, but did not hear back by time of publication.
The lawsuit named both AARP Services and its then CEO Lawrence Flanagan as the two defendants responsible for Deus’s termination. However, the jury’s verdict only held AARP Services responsible and did not hold Flanagan responsible for damages.
Laura Segal, AARP’s Senior Vice President for External Affairs, told the Washington Blade in a statement:
AARP is pleased with the jury’s verdict that Lawrence Flanagan lawfully terminated Richard Deus’s employment. AARP Services, Inc. (ASI) disagrees with the remainder of the verdict and is exploring all options for further legal review. We remain committed to an inclusive culture and warmth and belonging, where everyone is welcome.
Attorneys for AARP Services reportedly argued during the trial that Deus was not fired for his sexual orientation, pointing to gay and lesbian employees still at the company and to its policy against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation or marital status. While the jury found AARP to have discriminated based on sexual orientation, they did not find that AARP Services had discriminated against Deus based on his marital status.
“Flanagan was among the lead defense witnesses who testified at the nine-day-long trial,” according to the report. “He testified that he has worked for many years with gay colleagues, has a gay relative who he admires, and would never have allowed his staff to engage in discrimination while he served as AARP Services CEO.”
During his testimony, Flanagan also said his decision to fire Deus was based in part of the recommendation of AARP Services’ human resources personnel director Michael Loizzi, “who is an openly gay man,” according to the report.
The report continues:
Loizzi, who also testified at the trial, said that as a gay man he would never have called for Deus or anyone else to be fired because of their sexual orientation. He stated in his testimony that he recommended to Flanagan that Deus be fired because Deus violated AARP Services travel policy and lied to his supervisor about the details of the travel to get his supervisor’s approval under false pretenses.
Deus, during his own testimony, denied that he lied to his supervisors and said he was cleared for both trips beforehand.
Darrell Chambers, Deus’s lead attorney, told the Washington Blade after the verdict that the case “is about the unequal treatment of a gay man when juxtaposed to the treatment of our heterosexual comparators.”
“This is not a case about an organization or a group of people who hate gay people and decided that they were going to fire this man because they hate him,” Chambers said. “Instead, it’s a case where the punishment that they consistently applied to gay employees, re Mr. Deus and Mr. Sanders, was harsher, far harsher than the punishment they applied to heterosexual employees who committed the same or similar acts.”
After the verdict, an attorney for AARP Services filed a motion requesting D.C. Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini to issue a directed verdict overturning the outcome of the lawsuit. Matini said she would schedule a hearing to consider the motion in May, according to the report.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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