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Bowlero, the public company that reimagined bowling, faces dozens of discrimination claims that the feds want to settle for $60 million



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Illustration by Gene KimBowlero, the buzzy bowling company that was one of the few successful stocks to emerge from the SPAC boom, is the subject of a sprawling federal investigation into age discrimination and retaliation that authorities now want to settle for $60 million, CNBC has learned.Negotiations over the settlement, proposed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in early January, failed in April and the case is being referred to the EEOC’s general counsel “for potential enforcement action,” a letter sent by the EEOC shows. If the EEOC decides to sue and if it prevails in court, the company could face even steeper fines, experts said. Before the agency can sue Bowlero in federal court, the EEOC’s commissioners need to vote on the matter. The $60 million resolution proposal has not yet been publicly disclosed and was revealed to CNBC by attorney Daniel Dowe, who represents more than 70 former employees with claims against Bowlero. The EEOC briefed him about the settlement proposal so he could obtain authorization from his clients before agreeing to settle, he said.  The EEOC’s probe into Bowlero, the world’s largest owner and operator of bowling centers, is wide-ranging and has been ongoing since 2016, company filings with the Securities and Exchange …

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