Seventeen former major league baseball scouts who were discriminated against their age have sued MLB, it’s teams and commissioner Rob Manfred on Wednesday.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Denver. The former scouts allege violations of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 along with laws in 11 states and New York City.
The former scouts said they were discriminated against from 2020-22. They also said that MLB and the teams “have acted to prevent the reemployment of older scouts or refused the reemployment of older scouts.”
The ex-scouts also allege MLB in 2015 ended a listing of scouts eligible for employment, the decision to end the MLB Scouting Bureau in 2018 was discriminatory and MLB used analytics and the coronavirus pandemic as pretexts to eliminate older scouts.
The plaintiffs are headed by former Chicago Cubs scout James S. Benedict, who was terminated in 2020. They seek class-action certification.
MLB in response to the lawsuit said in a statement it looks “forward to refuting these claims in court,” but it does not comment on pending litigation.
