{"id":417741,"date":"2026-07-30T07:52:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:52:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417741\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T07:52:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:52:17","slug":"69-year-old-man-claims-lgs-rec-rescinded-job-offer-because-of-his-age-los-gatan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417741\/","title":{"rendered":"69-year-old man claims LGS Rec rescinded job offer because of his age | Los Gatan"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Paul<\/a>CLAIMANT – Paul Taylor told authorities he believe he lost out on a job opportunity because of his age. (Submitted)<\/p>\n

A 69-year-old San Jose man has raised age discrimination concerns with state and federal authorities after a \u201cbuilding attendant\u201d job offer he\u2019d received from Los Gatos-Saratoga Community Education and Recreation (LGS Recreation) was yanked.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Paul Taylor\u2014who says he\u2019d made it through two rounds of interviews with the social services agency and received an official contract\u2014filed complaints with both the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California\u2019s Civil Rights Department.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a way I feel violated,\u201d said Taylor, by telephone on Friday morning. \u201cI can\u2019t go back in time and be 43 again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Per the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and California\u2019s Fair Employment and Housing Act, people 40 and up cannot be treated differently because of their age than others in the workplace\u2014including when it comes to hiring.<\/p>\n

Taylor says his interviews with the local nonprofit, which offers fitness classes, seasonal day camps and the 55 Plus program for seniors, went well and he was offered a position on July 16.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was formerly hired,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a done deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor says he completed the online onboarding the same day he got his offer letter, then completed the Life Scan identification paperwork and handed over a clean tuberculosis certificate the following next day.<\/p>\n

Unlike the City of Scotts Valley, which runs its own recreation programming, the Town of Los Gatos relies on LGS Rec to provide a wide range of activities and wellness supports. The municipality also provides hundreds of thousands of dollars to the group each year in rent subsidies.<\/p>\n

The nonprofit\u2019s management seemed to like him, at least at first, says Taylor, who recalls even cracking a joke to play down his age.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m still on the sunny side of 70,\u201d he said he remarked. \u201cI wanted to be transparent, letting them know what they\u2019re getting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor argues he\u2019s more than qualified for the role that involves setting up and taking-down rooms for programs and events, opening and closing buildings, assisting rental customers in operating audio-visual equipment, monitoring facility usage for compliance with building rules and rental parameters, and greeting customers, per the job ad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was too young for certain things, now I\u2019m too old,\u201d he said. \u201cIt kind of gets on my nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The posting notes a hire with a high school diploma would make $21.07 an hour (plus an extra $2.90 an hour when alcohol is being served), whereas someone without a high school diploma would make $18.97 an hour.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis looks like it was a human resources decision,\u201d Taylor said of his job loss. \u201cI don\u2019t have a criminal record.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor says he wants people to know that age discrimination is a serious societal issue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel if things get put in newspapers people will just know about it and these entities that do this will stop the practice,\u201d he said. \u201cI have plenty of years left in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jia Chen, LGS Rec\u2019s human resources director, denied the agism accusation, stating, the \u201cconditional\u201d job offer was \u201cwithdrawn due to prior interactions and conduct at the Adult Recreation Center in Los Gatos, not age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese concerns were not known to the hiring team in Saratoga at the time the conditional offer was extended,\u201d Chen said. \u201cWe remain committed to maintaining a respectful environment for staff and community members.\u201d<\/p>\n

After receiving this message, the Los Gatan reached out to Taylor to try to understand what on earth Chen could be referring to. He admitted there\u2019d been some friction in his relationship with LGS Rec.<\/p>\n

He recalled a day back in 2023 when he went into the Adult Recreation Center in Los Gatos to eat a bag lunch, when he was confronted by a staff member who told him he couldn\u2019t be there as he wasn\u2019t a member.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought she was a little rude,\u201d he said. \u201cAt the time she thought I was discourteous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor says he sent a letter to the Town of Los Gatos about the incident and was offered a one-year membership with the organization (for 2024).<\/p>\n

And in the end, he found he quite liked the staffer he\u2019d initially clashed with.<\/p>\n

However, he says he also was reprimanded for putting trash in their dumpster that didn\u2019t come from the Adult Rec Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see it now. That was an infraction I committed,\u201d he said. \u201cI haven\u2019t done it since.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says holding a grudge over something as simple as someone throwing trash into a nonprofit\u2019s dumpster is kind of like someone remaining salty over getting cut off in traffic three years after the incident happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s kind of nonsensical. But I can\u2019t do anything about it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe matter was just over and done with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor says he\u2019s already filed an official claim with the State, but is open to mediation with LGS Rec Executive Director Nancy Rollett.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLAIMANT – Paul Taylor told authorities he believe he lost out on a job opportunity because of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[167060,167061,167062,167063,107987,167064,167065,88,90,89,14655],"class_list":["post-417741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-adult-recreation-center","tag-age-discrimination-claim","tag-ageism","tag-california-civil-right-department","tag-eeoc","tag-lgs-recreation","tag-paul-taylor","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-senior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}