Former Major League Scouts Sue MLB, Commissioner, Teams Over Alleged Age Discrimination

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A group of former scouts have signed on to a lawsuit in which they allege Major League Baseball, Commissioner Rob Manfred and all 30 teams have uniformly denied reemployment to those over 40 years old in favor of “substantially younger” scouts. 

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The 41-page proposed collective and class action says that the 17 plaintiffs worked as scouts for a number of MLB teams and sought reemployment at some point within the last three years after their contracts expired or were otherwise terminated. The suit says that although each plaintiff has “substantial experience” in scouting, they and other older scouts were nevertheless denied reemployment by another major league club, in an apparent years-long pattern of age discrimination. 

In addition, the suit claims MLB and its teams have, over the last several years, systematically separated older scouts from teams in order to “build a workforce of Younger Scouts,” essentially “blacklist[ing]” the experienced workers in alleged violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The complaint contests that “inexplicably large numbers” of older scouts were fired in 2020, 2021 and 2022 and have since been unable to find new jobs as scouts amid a baseball landscape where analytics have come to the fore and teams look to save money wherever possible. 

“This has involved disparate treatment of, and/or disparate impact upon, Older Scouts because they were not being reemployed and have been effectively and intentionally frozen out of the Scout labor market to an extent not applicable to Younger Scouts.” 

Per the case, MLB began its move to mold a predominantly younger scout force around early 2015, when Manfred took over as commissioner and analytics and video scouting became a top priority for ball clubs. As part of this “reform process,” the lawsuit says, MLB began to heavily recruit younger scouts while at the same time pushing out older scouts based on the “false stereotype” that they “lacked the ability to use analytics and engage in video scouting” at the same level as younger scouts. 

The suit stresses that the basic job of a scout, whether at the professional or amateur level, remains the same: to evaluate players and present this information to teams in reports. 

According to the complaint, the defendants have expressly or impliedly applied to scouts a rule under the Major League Constitution that essentially prohibits them from communicating with other teams about job opportunities while under contract with a club. Generally, a scout is granted permission to discuss another job with another team only if the job would be a promotion, the filing says. Even then, a team would not be required to grant permission for the scout to leave for another job with another club, the suit states. 

As the lawsuit tells it, this de facto anti-tampering policy chills lateral hiring and restrains the scout labor market. 

“With some exceptions, based on Defendants’ application of Major League Rule 3(k) in regard to Scouts, a Scout is stuck with his or her Club employer until the Club terminates the Scout. In 2020, 2021 and 2022, based on Defendants’ application of Rule 3(k), hundreds of Scouts’ contracts were not renewed or Scouts otherwise had their employment terminated, and the Club Defendants and the MLB Defendants subsequently have acted to prevent the reemployment of Older Scouts or refused the reemployment of Older Scouts. This has involved disparate treatment of, and/or disparate impact upon, Older Scouts because they were not being reemployed and have been effectively and intentionally frozen out of the Scout labor market to an extent not applicable to Younger Scouts.” 

Further, the suit alleges MLB and its teams used the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to terminate “an entire class of older employees” more susceptible to the virus due to their age. Rather than apply for federal loans that would allow them to continue paying older scouts, the defendants instead chose to terminate their employment via “systematic non-renewal and other means.”

“In 2020, Defendants did not renew or otherwise [terminated] the contracts for 51 of 83 Older Scouts,” the suit says, noting that every team engaged in firing older scouts, purportedly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Even as the pandemic is largely over and MLB revenues have returned to pre-pandemic levels, old schools have nevertheless been systematically denied reemployment, the filing adds. 

The lawsuit looks to cover anyone over 40 who was a scout for one or more of the 30 Major League Baseball teams and sought reemployment by a club on or more occasions within the last three years. 

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