(NewsNation) — The federal government is suing a California-based moving company that hires young buff student-athletes as movers for allegedly violating age-discrimination laws.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) filed a lawsuit against Meathead Movers for alleged age discrimination.

In a new release announcing the suit, the EEOC alleged that “since at least 2017, Meathead Movers failed to recruit and hire applicants over 40 into moving, packing and customer service positions. Meathead maintains a pattern or practice of recruiting and hiring young college students, intentionally excluding older workers regardless of their individual abilities.”

According to the EEOC, the accusations involve insufficient hiring of older workers, with many allegations stemming from marketing and hiring practices that may discourage older workers from applying.

An interviewer noted a candidate was qualified, but may not be a “cultural fit,” according to the charging document, Ryan Stygar, CEO of Centurian Trial Attorneys told NewsNation.

“So, what’s happened here is a qualified candidate, who does meet the physical requirements, is being excluded because of their age,” Stygar said. “That’s the violation of the ADA, and that’s what caught the EEOC’s attention.”

Meathead and the EEOC tried to negotiate a settlement, with the agency demanding $15 million before lowering that to about $5 million, according to internal emails reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

The moving company countered with a $750,000 offer to settle, but the EEOC filed the suit in September.

“We are 100% open to hiring anyone at any age if they can do the job,” Aaron Steed, CEO of Meathead Movers, told The Wall Street Journal. “We had no idea we were doing anything wrong by being a moving company that hires a lot of student-athletes.”

Nearly 25% of the U.S. workforce is aged 55 and up. In the next decade, the number of working Americans 65 and older is projected to grow by a third, as per the U.S. Department of Labor.

According to a Harris Poll survey, 79 percent of hiring managers say they see more older workers vying for entry-level jobs compared with three years ago.

Carly Roszkowski, AARP’s vice president for financial resilience programming, noted that seniors returning to the workforce cite finances as the primary reason.

“For many older Americans, they might be going back into the workforce to remain socially engaged, or to be mobile to get out of the house,” Roszowski said. “Financial reasons, inflation, goods and services costing more, and folks living longer and afraid that they might outlive their retirement is the main reason we’re seeing more and more older Americans going back into the workforce.”

Now, legal experts assert there’s a renewed focus on age discrimination in the workforce.

Meathead Movers isn’t alone; many companies target college-aged men and women. However, this case might set a precedent and change how other companies market themselves in the future.

“The EEOC is not challenging Meathead Movers for not treating hired workers properly. They are challenging Meathead Movers because they didn’t hire these people in the first place; they’ve excluded these people from the employment pool,” Stygar said.