Latest news with #FreedomofInformationActRequest
New York Post
3 days ago
- Business
- New York Post
Meathead feds target California movers over nonexistent age discrimination: ‘Weaponization of government'
Which would you be more likely to hire: a moving company whose ads feature energetic, youthful workers or one that highlights its less sprightly, aged employees? That's a no-brainer — even a meathead could answer such a simple advertising question. Yet the federal government has spent about a decade investigating California-based, family-owned Meathead Movers for age discrimination, citing its marketing materials — demanding $15 million in penalties and suing when the company wouldn't cough up the cash. And the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has done this without pointing to a single discrimination complaint. Advertisement Meathead, California's biggest independent moving company, and its CEO, Aaron Steed, are finally fighting back — after a think tank heard about the crazy case. 'The EEOC is not only targeting a successful American company on what appears to be pretextual grounds, but now it's refusing to tell the public why it did that. And we think the public has a right to know,' Jon Riches, the Goldwater Institute's vice president for litigation, tells The Post. Goldwater sent the agency a Freedom of Information Act Request in March, seeking basic facts such as the number of age-discrimination complaints against Meathead Movers and number of EEOC investigations into alleged age discrimination at any moving company since January 2016. The feds refused to 'fess up. Advertisement So this week Goldwater appealed, Riches tells The Post exclusively — and the EEOC has 30 days to respond before the Arizona think tank will sue. 'We bring legal actions to challenge government overreach and unconstitutional action,' explains Riches, an ex-Navy JAG who joined Goldwater in 2012. 'We've had cases of many, many, many other government agencies, and I've never seen anything this unprecedented in my experience.' Most EEOC lawsuits are the result of discrimination complaints. The agency has filed just eight in the last decade based on what it calls 'directed investigations' — those 'without a charge of discrimination filed by an individual.' Meathead Movers' case is one of them. 'We are hopeful that the EEOC stops this ridiculous prosecution of Aaron and his company, but we also want to know why it started and why the government made the decisions it was making,' Riches says. Advertisement Can the feds really fine a firm simply for its marketing — when it's not fraudulent? 'No, I don't think so. And I think that also raises First Amendment concerns. Obviously Meathead Movers has a right to communicate truthful information about lawful activities, including in its marketing materials' — and 'it markets individuals that are capable of performing the job,' Riches says. But, he adds, 'The EEOC doesn't really seem to be too concerned with the First Amendment.' It 'sent Aaron a very staggering gag-order letter. Aaron has not been shy about talking about the facts of the case and what the government's doing to him on social media, and the agency sent him a letter, basically telling him to stop doing that.' Aaron Steed won't stop. 'I'm aware of my constitutional rights, and I'm fighting for my company's existence and the 300-plus families that depend on us,' he tells The Post — noting EEOC 'sent the gag order after Goldwater sent a FOIA request.' Advertisement EEOC started investigating Meathead around 2015 and finally contacted Steed in 2017. He insists the company doesn't discriminate. 'So we welcomed and embraced the EEOC, answered all their questions,' he says. 'We fully cooperated with the investigation, and then we were just shocked when we got a bill for $15 million shortly after — and with the full weight of the federal government to collect it.' How did it arrive at that figure? 'Even though there was not a single complaint against my company that initiated this, their logic was that there's at least 500 class members' — all hypothetical, as Steed notes. EEOC decided lost wages would total $15,000 per person, 'which is a record for age discrimination. No settlement has ever been reached for that amount. And then they multiplied it times two.' Why times two? 'Fees and penalties. And we quickly explained to them, 'Hey, we can't afford that,'' Steed replies. 'It has felt like this has never been about age discrimination. It's been about them trying to run over my company, trying to put us out of business,' he adds. 'It feels personal, and it doesn't make sense.' The 45-year-old started the company as a high-school junior in 1997. 'I wrestled in high school and in college, and this was a perfect job for me to support myself and my friends and my brother while going to school playing sports,' he recalls. 'Once I turned 21, 22, I saved up enough money to buy a truck. And now we have hundreds of employees and 80 trucks.' Steed says he has employees over 40 — even over 60. Still, he notes, 'The reality of our job is that a lot of younger people tend to gravitate towards it. The job description is to move heavy things all day, up and down stairs, and then at Meathead Movers, you're expected to jog.' That's right: After you've put furniture or boxes in the truck, you hustle back for more. 'That's part of what makes us different than typical moving companies,' Steed explains. 'It kept the momentum going, kept us focused as an athlete. It kept us in our flow state. It always really impressed the customers. It made move day more of an athletic event, and since all moving companies charge one hourly rate, we save our clients time and money, and this is what we've done since the get-go.' Advertisement It's a win-win situation: 'My employees love getting paid to work out, and the customers get a great value.' 'We pay $18 to $20 an hour, and you've got to be able to pass a drug test and a criminal-background check to work for us and have a great attitude,' he says. 'We have a reputation for doing really good quality work with people you can trust in your home, and we give back to the community. We're most known for offering unlimited free services to women fleeing abusive relationships, in partnership with eight different domestic-violence shelters across central and southern California.' Steed reflects, 'This has been my life's work.' He hopes to pass the company onto his and his wife's 3½-year-old son one day — if it survives. 'I've already spent well over a million and a half dollars defending myself for a crime I haven't committed, and it is just absolutely destroying us,' he says. 'I can't afford to keep litigating against the federal government. It's incredibly expensive, it's crazy, very time consuming and very stressful.' Advertisement He doesn't know why the feds targeted him. 'Last week, a friend of mine said, 'Hey, did you run over someone's cat over there at the EEOC?'' he says. 'It feels deeply personal, and I really don't understand it.' Goldwater, which is working pro bono, is flummoxed too. Perhaps a former competitor is involved. What it does know: 'The case raises serious questions about the weaponization of government.' 'This would be a really different sort of case if it was based on actual complaints of people who are actually harmed. But for a government agency to concoct these very thin allegations against a successful American company should trouble all your readers,' Riches says. 'Why would the federal government target a company whose job is moving because it hires people who can perform that job, regardless of their age? If it can do that to Meathead, it could do that to anybody. This is a bigger issue than just the EEOC and just Meathead Movers.' Steed spoke to The Post from LAX, where he was awaiting a flight to Washington, DC — where he'll meet Thursday with EEOC Acting Chair Andrea Lucas. Was that a tough meeting to get? Steed laughs. Advertisement 'Yeah,' he finally responds. 'We've been wanting to meet with them for a while, and I'm grateful that the chair has taken time out of her busy schedule to meet with us.' Lucas did not respond to The Post's request for comment. Spokesman Victor Chen said, 'We cannot comment on ongoing litigation, but we can point you to our public statement at the time the suit was filed.' He also sent the 2023 lawsuit filed in federal court. It complains 'Meathead Movers' founders and executive management . . . describe 'young and energetic-student athletes' as part of their founding vision.'
CBS News
12-02-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Mayor Brandon Johnson releases video of gift room, new rules for reporting gifts at City Hall
Mayor Brandon Johnson's office on Wednesday released video of the room at City Hall where gifts his office receives are stored, following an inspector general's investigation into his office's handling of those gifts. Last week, a report from Inspector General Deborah Witzburg's office said the mayor's office had improperly denied investigators access to the gift room, refused to hand over a log of gifts as required by the city's ethics rules until investigators filed a Freedom of Information Act Request, and had accepted some gifts without properly reporting them. In response to the report, the mayor's office on Wednesday released a short video showing the gifts stored inside the gift room, and announced new guidelines for reporting the gifts the city has received. Every gift received by the mayor's office now must be logged within 10 days, and reported to the Chicago Board of Ethics and the City Comptroller. Each gift logged must be categorized by date, description, the donor's name, and the location where it's stored. The gift log is also posted on the city's website. Perishable food items may be placed in a publicly accessible area for consumption by city staff members and guests at City Hall. If any other gifts are put on display rather than placed in the gift room, the city's logbook must indicate where it is being displayed. The city's logbook of gifts must be updated quarterly, and the city will post a quarterly video recording of the gift room on the 5th floor of City Hall. The mayor's office also said some gifts received by the city might be better suited for use by its sister agencies or Chicago nonprofits, and can be donated to them if appropriate. For example, gifts of books might be donated to the Chicago Public Library, and gifts of clothing might be donated to homeless shelters or other nonprofits. Any gifts donated to a sister agency or nonprofit must be logged in the logbook. Gifts currently being stored in the gift room include designer cufflinks, a Chicago Teachers Union strike poster from the 2019 teachers' strike, a custom Chicago Cubs jacket and two custom Cubs jerseys, a 2023 U.S. National Soccer Team jersey, a personalized Mont Blanc pen, a Superman doll, a non-functional pen from the inventory of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, several designer handbags and purses, a handmade quilt, a bag of Girl Scout cookies, and more.
