Allstate agrees to $4.5 million settlement with about 90 former employees in age bias case

Allstate settles age bias case with EEOC

ST. LOUIS — Allstate Insurance Co. will pay $4.5 million to about 90 employees to settle an age discrimination lawsuit. The settlement was announced Friday by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission office in St. Louis.

The EEOC says Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate reorganized in 1999, so that many employee sales agents would become independent contractors. However, a one-year hiring moratorium then went into effect. The EEOC says 90 percent of the agents subjected to the moratorium were 40 or older and disproportionately affected.

An Allstate spokesman says the company believes it did nothing wrong, but agreed to settle the suit to avoid the burden and cost of further litigation.