Gene Johnson, who worked for Cable Fixers, Inc. for 21 years, was terminated whe
ID: 465105 • Letter: G
Question
Gene Johnson, who worked for Cable Fixers, Inc. for 21 years, was terminated when he was 69 years old and was replaced by a much younger man who Cable Fixers paid a significantly lower salary than it was paying Gene. Gene’s only evidence of age discrimination is an email from his manager stating that he (the manager) understood how long Gene had worked for Cable Fixers but that Gene was not doing as good a job as he used to do. Is this enough to establish age discrimination? What elements must Gene show to prove age discrimination? Can Cable Fixers fire an older, higher salaried employee and replace him with a younger lower paid employee?
Explanation / Answer
Communication made through email gives the reason of termination and it is “not delivering a good job as Gene was used to do”. This reason has not much to do with the age Thus, it is not going to be sufficient to establish age discrimination.
Here, Gene should prove that he was delivering his job as well as he had done in the past. It can be proved through his performance appraisal, his client feedback and peer review of his work. It will establish that the stated reason mentioned in the mail is not true. Thus, there must be some other reasons behind it to terminate the services and it could be age discrimination and higher salary package. Gene should also bring any past communication that can infer age discrimination to him. Other similar cases against other employees will also help Gene to justify and prove age discrimination against him.
As per the employment laws (ADEA) and protection awarded to aged employees, Cable Fixers cannot fire an older and higher salary employees just because they are getting younger employees at a lower salary package. The company has to justify it with non-satisfactory work being delivered by the older employees as a reason of termination.
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