Westmoreland County agrees to settlement in age discrimination lawsuit

Westmoreland County will pay $16,000 to settle a federal age-discrimination lawsuit.

The settlement agreement calls for the county to pay $11,000 to Wayne A. Piscar, who sued the county in October 2024 for not hiring him to work at the Regional Youth Services Center. An additional $5,000 will be paid to Piscar’s attorney.

The county will pay the entire mediation fee. The amount was not disclosed in the agreement, which was provided to TribLive on Thursday under the state’s Right-to-Know law.

All three county commissioners declined to comment on the agreement after they approved it last week.

In the lawsuit, Piscar said he worked for about 20 years at the Hempfield facility before he voluntarily left in the early 2000s while employees were being laid off.

The secure detention portion of the Regional Youth Services Center that houses juvenile criminal offenders was largely closed in June 2023 because of staffing shortages and operational problems, as well as state inspections that indicated training deficiencies.

An eight-bed unsecured shelter facility for at-risk juveniles that also is in the building continued operations during the closure. Hiring of new employees ramped up in preparation for the center to fully reopen in March 2024. Piscar said in the lawsuit he inquired in January and February 2024 with Director Rich Gordon and Commissioner Ted Kopas about getting a job there, but was told he was too old at 66 and lacked college credits.

Piscar applied for a job March 12, 2024, and was never contacted for an interview, according to the suit.

Pennsylvania requires juvenile detention workers to have completed college courses to qualify for employment, though county officials could seek a waiver under certain circumstances.

In court filings, attorney Thomas Pellis argued Piscar didn’t qualify for the job because of that requirement and the county was not obligated to ask for a waiver.

“Piscar’s request of a waiver of the mandatory education requirements for the position of juvenile youth worker constitutes special treatment, consideration or accommodation which the county is not required to extend to Piscar,” Pellis wrote in a brief supporting a motion to dismiss.

Mediation was held Feb. 27, and the case was resolved, according to court filings.