Filed Date: Jan. 17, 2025
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
In this case, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) alleged that General Motors and UAW violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act by negotiating a collective bargaining agreement that unlawfully reduced sickness and accident benefits paid to General Motors employees aged 66 and older.
EEOC is a federal agency that enforces workplace discrimination laws, including the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). ADEA forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older. On January 17, 2025, EEOC filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana against (1) General Motors, LLC (GM); and (2) the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), the labor union that negotiated with GM on behalf of its employees.
According to EEOC, GM and UAW were parties to a collective bargaining agreement (a “CBA” is a contract between an employer and a labor union that outlines the terms and conditions of employee benefits) since at least October 16, 2019. The CBA provided GM employees unable to work due to sickness or injury with weekly Sickness and Accident Benefits. However, the CBA specified that any weekly Sickness and Accident Benefits paid to GM employees were reduced by the amount of old-age Social Security retirement benefits received by those employees. For example, a 70-year-old employee eligible for $1,000 of weekly Sickness and Accident Benefits but who also received the equivalent of $500 per week in old-age Social Security benefits would only receive $500 in weekly Sickness and Accident Benefits; but a 35-year-old (who was not receiving Social Security benefits) who was eligible for the same $1,000 of weekly Sickness and Accident Benefits would receive the full $1,000.
Because the only GM employees eligible for old-age Social Security retirement benefits (except for those retirement benefits reduced because of the age at which received) were aged 66 and older, EEOC alleged that the CBA’s Sickness and Accident Benefits policy amounted to age discrimination. Accordingly, EEOC sued GM and UAW on behalf of the entire class of employees who worked for GM while 66 or older at some point since October 16, 2019.
EEOC requested that the court issue an injunction requiring GM to stop deducting its employees’ old-age Social Security retirement benefits from those employees’ owed Sickness and Accident Benefits. EEOC also asked the court to order GM and UAW to pay back benefits to employees whose Sickness and Accident Benefits were unlawfully withheld. Finally, EEOC sought litigation costs from GM. The case was assigned to Judge Tanya Walton Pratt.
As of February 23, 2025, this litigation was in its very early stages and ongoing.
Summary Authors
Gordon Pignato (2/23/2025)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69555676/parties/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-general-motors-llc/
Pratt, Tanya Walton (Indiana)
Robben, Alysia D (Indiana)
LLC, GENERAL MOTORS, (Indiana)
Macey, Jeffrey A. (Indiana)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69555676/equal-employment-opportunity-commission-v-general-motors-llc/
Last updated Aug. 28, 2025, 9:28 p.m.
State / Territory: Indiana
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: Jan. 17, 2025
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
Plaintiff Type(s):
Attorney Organizations:
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
General Motors, LLC (Delaware), Private Entity/Person
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), 29 U.S.C. §§ 201-219
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: None Yet / None
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
Benefits (Source):
Social Security Retirement and Death Benefit
Discrimination Area:
Discrimination Basis:
EEOC-centric: