AGE DISCRIMINATION

Representative Cases

Resolved a case in which the Plaintiff was a Senior Research Scientist who was laid off by a biochemical company that manufactured pharmaceuticals. The Plaintiff was 56 and had worked for the Company for 16 years when he was laid off. Plaintiff contended his layoff was age discrimination and that he had been denied promotions for several years due to his age. He also claimed his layoff was retaliatory because he had complained of age discrimination when he was not promoted and also because he had raised safety complaints about chemical and toxic fumes and shortly thereafter, OSHA had made a surprise inspection of the facility. Plaintiff also made claims that the full title of his corporate employer was not listed on the paystubs provided to all Company employees. The Employer contended Plaintiff had not made age discrimination complaints about his not receiving several promotions and contended each person hired for the jobs in question had the requisite special expertise. It also said that Plaintiff had not made safety complaints but instead reported in his managerial position that subordinate employees had complained to him. The Company also produced documents that it had a strong suspicion of who had made the OSHA complaint and it was not Plaintiff. Defendant employer also claimed that as a part of global restructuring of its business, it was transferring all its small-scale manufacturing of a certain product line that Plaintiff managed to the UK. The employer presented evidence that each of Plaintiff’s subordinate employees who were kept on after Plaintiff’s layoff had certain skills and experience which could be used in other departments. It further concluded that Plaintiff’s exaggerated opinion of his abilities would end up being an HR nightmare if it offered him a lower-level position at half his current salary.