HOUSTON – A Dallas-based fashion accessory designer and manufacturer will pay $95,000 and furnish other relief to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the agency announced today. According to the EEOC’s suit, Tandy Brands Accessories, Inc., a Delaware corporation headquartered in Dallas, violated federal law by terminating Merta Withrow, a 62-year-old manager, because of her age, supposedly as part of a “reduction-in-force,” while retaining a lesser qualified and substantially younger manager. During the course of the EEOC’s investigation, the agency discovered that, within four months, Tandy Brands terminated another five supervisors, whose ages ranged from 75 to 58, at its Victoria, Texas facility.