TV Writers’ Record Age-Bias Settlement
A group of 150 television writers who
had been turned away from jobs by studios and agents who considered them
too old to write for younger audiences
won the largest age-discrimination
settlement in U.S. history, thanks to
AARP Foundation’s advocacy team.
The lead plaintiff was two-time Emmy
winner Tracy Keenan Wynn, son of
actor Keenan Wynn and grandson of
vaudeville legend Ed Wynn. Wynn, who
was 56 when he filed the lawsuit in
2000, claimed he had been unable to
find employment over the five previous
years because, he alleged, there was
pervasive age discrimination in the TV
industry.
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After years of legal wrangling, AARP
Foundation Litigation and private law
firms reached the settlement, worth
more than $75 million.
The settlement in Wynn v. NBC was a
bright spot for older workers buffeted
by the economic downturn. Its importance reaches far beyond the affected
writers, since television programs are
crucial in shaping viewers’ perceptions
of different groups in society.
