Johnson & Higgins Settles Age Bias Case

Marsh & McLennan Cos.’s Johnson & Higgins unit agreed to pay $28 million to settle federal charges that it illegally forced directors to retire by age 62. The case dates to 1993, when the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Johnson & Higgins in federal court in New York, alleging that its mandatory retirement policy violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The EEOC said that, under the settlement, the company must drop a policy that requires employees who are members of its board to retire at the end of the year in which they become 62, or at the end of the year in which they turn 60 and have completed 15 years of service on the board. James Lee, EEOC regional attorney, said 13 former directors will receive payments of between $1 million and $3.5 million in the largest per-person recovery the commission has ever obtained in an age discrimination case. Johnson & Higgins, an insurance brokerage that is also in the employee benefits business, was acquired by New York-based Marsh & McLennan in 1997.