Age discrimination lawsuits are increasing rapidly. The trend of terminated employees contemplating and filing lawsuits are also on the increase.If you want to terminate an employee for poor performance, then do so. But don't use a layoff as an excuse. And if you replace a terminated employee with a younger one, make sure that you're doing so for proper business reasons only.
Case in point: George Carras, who was in his early 60s, worked as the chief financial officer for a shoe importing business. When management said it was terminating him because of financial pressures, he offered to take a steep cut in pay, down to $60,000. The company rejected his offer and laid him off.
Then Carras found out that his younger replacement was making more than $60,000. When he sued for age discrimination, he told the court it was obvious that economics really hadn’t been the true reason for his termination. The trial court dismissed his case, but Carras appealed.
Now the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals has reinstated the lawsuit and Carras will get a chance to persuade a jury that his former employer fired him because of his age and not because the company was having financial troubles. (Carras v. MGS 728 Lex, No. 07-4480, 2nd Cir., 2008)
Thanks to Labor Center Blog and Business Management Daily.
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