Print

Email story

Comment

Letter to the editor

Bridge tender's age bias case settled

By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff Writer
Published December 30, 2007

A settlement has been reached in the case between Joseph Servedio, the Seminole man who said he was dismissed as a bridge tender because of his age, and his former employer.

Servedio's wife, Carol, who told the St. Petersburg Times of the settlement, said that under the agreement, her husband could not discuss the complaint he filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. EEOC officials also said they could not discuss the case.

Servedio had said he was forced from his job at the Indian Rocks Drawbridge shortly after his 80th birthday a year ago. He said his boss pushed him to retire and offered him a position as an alternate bridge tender, requiring him to stand in as needed for absent workers. When he declined the offer to retire, the alternate position was withdrawn, he said.

In an Aug. 17 letter, the EEOC said it had reasonable cause to believe that Servedio's employers, C&S Maintenance Corp. of Gainesville, violated the Age Discrimination Act.

Carol Servedio said the past year has been difficult for her husband, but that he has found comfort in his role as a Eucharistic minister at St. Jerome's Catholic Church, where he takes communion to shut-ins and assists with communion at the 12:30 p.m. Sunday Mass.

Waveney Ann Moore can be reached at wmoore@sptimes.com or 727 892-2283.

[Last modified December 29, 2007, 22:35:02]