Boomer Advocate Dan Norwood has been fighting age discrimination in employment for over thirty-eight years. He has won many of these fights in court. More often, though, he has been able to win the fights after just threatening discriminating employers with a lawsuit and negotiating a settlement of the discrimination claim before a lawsuit even has to be filed. It is a lengthy and expensive process to prosecute an age discrimination claim in court and carry it all the way to a jury trial and then, even if he wins at trial, to wait another year or so to win it again on appeal.
Some of the Age Discrimination Cases That Boomer Advocate Dan Norwood Has Won in Court or Settled Before Having to File a Lawsuit in Court
Terminated Because of Age Discrimination
An older employee was terminated for reasons of alleged poor performance or misconduct, neither of which were true, or, if they are true, one or more similarly situated younger employees were not terminated for similar poor performance or misconduct
- Devosia Williams v. Caterpillar Tractor Company (1985) Employee Devosia Williams was a fifty-eight year old female who had worked a the benefits clerk sitting at a desk just outside of the sixty-five year old plant manager’s office for a Caterpillar plant for five and a half years. Despite her good performance record, plant manager demoted her for alleged work errors to a mail clerk position which would require her ride a three-wheel bicycle around the twenty-six acre plant every day to deliver the mail. The plant manager knew she had knee problems and would not be able to ride the bicycle and could not perform the lower level job. As a result, she was forced to resign. The plant manager then filled her position at the desk just outside his office with a thirty-one year old female. At trial the jury found the company guilty of age discrimination and awarded her two times her losses of $52,000.00.
- After a lawsuit was filed against a hospital by a fifty-eight year old employee who had a thirty-four year perfect work record prior to being fired allegedly for putting sexual material on the hospital’s computer system when she sent a cartoon to another employee. The carton, which was called: “New Airport Security Check System”, showed people standing naked in line at the airport security checkpoint. The hospital claimed the employee violated the hospital’s no sexual material on hospital computers policy. The hospital entered into a confidential settlement of the case after it was proved a young male employee, who had a nude screen saver of Carmen Electra on his work computer, was not fired but only told to remove the screen saver and given a written warning for violating the hospital’s policy.
- A confidential pre-lawsuit settlement for $140,000.00 was obtained for a fifty-four year old Managing Director of an investment firm. Despite his over twenty year superior career in his field before coming to the firm, as well as three and a half years of good performance with the firm, he was terminated alleged for ‘not getting along with teammates” after he experienced some health problems and had to have surgery. After his termination, an individual in his late twenties was immediately placed in his job.
An older employee is terminated during a reduction in rorce instead of a younger, less qualified employee
- Helen Stewart v. Cadna Rubber Company (2014) Employee Helen Stewart was a sixty-two year old warehouse worker who had worked for Cadna Rubber Company for over twelve years. Despite her good service, she was selected for termination, rather than younger, less qualified employees, during a reduction in force. After a lawsuit was filed, the trial judge threw the case out of court before the case got to a jury trial. Boomer Advocate Dan Norwood appealed the judge’s dismissal of the case, got the judge’s decision reversed, and the case sent back to the trial court for a trial. Before the case went trial, the company entered into a confidential settlement of the claim.
- A pre-lawsuit confidential settlement of $210,500 was obtained in another case for a sixty-two year old Managing Director of an investment firm. He had worked for the company for four years before being terminated during a reduction in force while a younger, less qualified employee was retained. The settlement amount paid included a $100,000.00 bonus the employee was due to receive one week after the date of his termination if he had not been terminated.
- A pre-lawsuit confidential settlement of $185,000.00 was obtained for a fifty-four year old who had been Director of Plant Operations for eight and a half years for a manufacturing company after he was let go during a reduction in force instead of a younger, less qualified employee.
Denied Hire or Promotion Because of Age Discrimination
An applicant for a position is denied hire into a new job or a current employee is denied a promotion to a new position with an employer and a younger, less qualified individual was selected for the position instead
- Dennis Vawter v. E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company (2016) Job applicant Dennis Vawter had a spotless record working as a chemical operator at another chemical company for over thirty-seven years before that company closed its doors. He applied for the same job with Du Pont but did not get hired. He was fifty-nine years old at the time. After learning that a much younger, less experienced applicant got hired instead of him, he sued the company for age discrimination. In the lawsuit he discovered that not one but twelve applicants had been hired the fill the chemical operator position he had applied for. More importantly, most of them were less experienced and all were much younger. The case was tried by a jury, and the jury returned a verdict in his favor and awarded him $100,000.00 in compensatory damages for lost pay and benefits, mental distress, humiliation and embarrassment, and loss of enjoyment of life. The trial court judge then awarded him front pay for a period of three years in the amount of over $120,000.00, plus $74,200.00 for his attorney’s fees.
- A confidential settlement for $120,000.00 was obtained before trial in a hiring discrimination lawsuit filed by a seventy-two year old truck driver who was working for one trucking company when he applied for a similar but higher paying position with another trucking company. Despite him having a fifty year five million mile perfect driving record, several younger, less qualified applicants were hired by that company instead of him.
Required to Work in a Hostile Work Environment Because of Age Discrimination
An employee is required to work in a work environment that has become hostile in an effort to try to bully them into retiring or resigning
- A confidential pre-lawsuit settlement was obtained for a sixty-one year old female who had a thirty-nine year spotless work record until she started getting bullied by her boss to try to force her to quit.. As part of the settlement, she received compensation equal to six months of pay and benefits and retired with a commendation letter from the Chief Human Resources Officer of the hospital for her many years of loyal and dedicated service.
- A confidential pre-lawsuit settlement for $94,000.00 was obtained for a sixty-six year old female Customer Service Representative who had a seventeen year spotless work record with a manufacturing company. Despite her good record, she was called into a meeting and told her job was being eliminated. She was then offered a severance package and a box to put her personal items in leave. She was told that if she did not accept the severance package, she would have “no job and no money.” After she left, an employee in her mid-twenties started immediately performing her job.