DETROIT-. Two people who worked as scouts for the Detroit Tigers are suing the club, saying it discriminated against them based on their age by terminating their contracts after the 2020 season.
Gary Pellant and Randall Johnson filed the lawsuit Thursday in U.S. District Court in Detroit. They claim that the move toward advanced analytics was accompanied by a “false stereotype” that older headhunters lacked the acumen to take advantage of new tools in the search for quality prospects.
The complainants claim that the termination of their contracts was improper and that there was subsequent interference, which would violate the Age Discrimination Act, enacted in 1967. They add that the team violated the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, a provision of the state of Michigan that went into effect in 1977.
They also allege that there was disparate treatment that constituted age discrimination, which would also go against the Elliott-Larsen Act.
They have demanded payment of unearned wages, advance payments and punitive compensation.
The Tigers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Seventeen former Major League scouts sued them, their teams and commissioner Rob Manfred in June in federal district court in Denver. They claim they violated the Anti-Discrimination Law as well as provisions of 11 states and New York City.
Pellant, 68, is originally from Chandler, Arizona. Johnson, 67, hails from Valley Center, California. Both claim they worked for more than 20 teams before the Tigers terminated their services on Oct. 31, 2020. The lawsuit did not specify which other teams they have worked for or when they were hired by the Tigers.
FOUNTAIN: AP
