EEOC Sues Scheels All Sports for Age Discrimination

RENO, Nev. - Scheels All Sports, Inc., a Fargo, North Dakota-based national sporting goods retailer, violated federal law when it changed its employee stock ownership plan (ESOP), forcing a class of employees to sell their company shares when they turned 40 years of age, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charged in a lawsuit announced today.

According to the suit, under Scheels' policy, employees 40 and over who did not work 1,000 hours in a year were forced to give up their company shares, but employees under the age of 40 were allowed to keep their company shares, even if they worked fewer than 1,000 hours in a year. The suit also alleges that the reasons for Scheels' policy were rooted in age-based stereotypes, such as the assumption that younger workers are more likely to work fewer hours to attend college or start families, while older workers are supposedly less likely to contribute to company growth.

Jeri Fulgham, who accrued ESOP shares during a Scheels career of more than 20 years, was forced to sell her shares after she turned 40 and didn't meet the 1,000 hour requirement in the previous year, resulting in lost opportunity for future gains in her company shares. Fulgham asked Scheels to revise its discriminatory age-based divestment policy because of her 20-year loyalty to the company, but the company refused, and Fulgham felt she had no choice but to resign from Scheel's Reno location in February 2022.

"Employers cannot give younger workers advantages in compensation over older workers based on misguided and outdated stereotypes," said EEOCSan Francisco District Director Christopher Green. "An employer who does so sends a clear message that older workers are not wanted."

The alleged conduct violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), which prohibits employers from treating workers over 40 less favorably because of their age. The EEOC filed suit (EEOC v. Scheels All Sports, Inc., Case No. 3:26-cv-00756) in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada after first attempting to reach a pre-litigation settlement through its administrative conciliation process.

EEOC Senior Trial Attorney Gregory Hitzel said, "Excluding a loyal employee from a lucrative compensation plan because of her age not only impacts the company's workforce, it violates the ADEA. The EEOC will continue to enforce the ADEA to protect older employees and job applicants."

For more information on age discrimination, please visit https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination .

The EEOC's San Francisco District Office has jurisdiction over Northern California, Northern Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Montana.

The EEOC is the sole federal agency authorized to investigate and litigate against businesses and other private sector employers for violations of federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. For public sector employers, the EEOC shares jurisdiction with the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. The EEOC is also responsible for coordinating the federal government's employment antidiscrimination effort. More information about the EEOC is available at www.eeoc.gov .