Sometimes I’ll get a call from somebody from Baltimore or Westminster or Easton telling me that they have a great age discrimination case, but those promises rarely come true. Yesterday, I interviewed a gentleman who really did have what appears to be a strong age discrimination case. What made it such a good case? First, he was terminated by a much younger manager. Second, he was replaced by a much younger person — nearly thirty years younger than him. Third, his manager made a number of age-related comments in the weeks leading up to his termination, such as, “we need a more aggressive, younger team” and “why don’t you wear your hearing aid” and “when are you going to retire.” Finally, the gentleman was terminated because his performance was supposedly “not up to standards” — even though he had recently been praised for his work and had a stellar performance history. Such facts help to prove that the reason for his termination was pretextual — in other words, he was fired because of his age, not because of any performance problems. When a client presents with all of these facts, their case may not be perfect, but it is likely strong enough to get to a jury, which is a key consideration in pursuing an age discrimination case.
