5 slides -- human resource
Bobby Dean Nickel V. Staples
Bobby Dean Nickel, 64 was hired by Corporate Express in August of 2002 as a facilities manager. In 2008 Staples Contract and Staples Inc. acquired Corporate Express. Over the next nine years Nikels was a exemplary employee who received stellar reviews during his time with the company. The way that Corporate Express pay scale worked he received higher wages than that of a Staples employee. Because of this his supervisor prompted him to resign from his position. When he refused, he underwent a series of false accusations and increasing levels of harassment from co- workers and a manager, including being suspended for taking a bell pepper worth 68 cents from the company cafeteria (City News Service, 2017). Nickel’s was a regular butt of jokes at staff meetings and was referred to as “old coot” and “old goat. A receptionist also told Nickel she was ordered by management to provide a false statement about Nickel’s conduct but she refused to do so, according to the lawsuit. Nickel was fired July 29, 2011. His lawyer, Carney Shegerian, said it represents the largest verdict of its kind in county history, topping another in which he won $21.6 million for another client (City News Service, 2017)..
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Achim Beck V. CIBC
Achim Beck, an investment banker sued his former employer Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce because the company wanted a "younger" person to do his job. He was replaced by 38-year-old. The employment tribunal found that the bank,, had been unfair in how they had treated Mr Beck, ruling they had used a fake redundancy process to replace the banker with someone younger (Wallop,2017). While it appeared his position was being made redundant as part of a restructuring, the tribunal found that the company was in the processes of hiring head hunters "seeking [a] younger, more entrepreneurial profile", according to an internal memo (Wallop,2017). During the tribunal an executive of the bank was asked to explain what "younger" in the memo meant and he replied that it meant less experienced "as opposed to older and staid“(Wallop,2017). The judges at the employment tribunal accepted that CIBC did consider hiring many workers in their forties or older when they sought a replacement for Mr. Beck, but the company failed to adequately prove that age was not a factor in his dismissal. The courts have yet to decide what damages he should receive but it is understood it could be hundreds of thousands of pounds, after an employment tribunal ruled he had been unfairly dismissed and that his age had played a part.
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Peter Baker V. National Air Traffic Service
Peter Baker, 51 applied to NATS for a trainee air traffic controller position but was automatically rejected because of his age. Mr. Baker had aviation experience including a civil pilot's license, but he lacked the funds to become a fully qualified commercial pilot. He therefore wanted to become an air traffic controller. "NATS controllers must be capable of operating to our exacting standards in some of the world's busiest and most complex environments (Savill, 2017). The service told the tribunal in London that its age limit was based on concerns about safety, possible declines in performance related to age, and the cost of training, which it put at about £600,000 per trainee (Savill, 2017). However, the tribunal ruled that the age bar was irrational and arbitrary, and as such was direct age discrimination.
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References
Bennett-Alexander, D. D., & Hartman, L. P. (2014). Employment Law for Business (8th ed.). Retrieved from https://phoenix.vitalsource.com/#/books/1259755428.
City News Service. (2017). 66-year-old man awarded $26 million in age discrimination lawsuit against Staples. Retrieved from http:// www.dailynews.com/general-news/20140227/66-year-old-man-awarded-26-million-in-age-discrimination-lawsuit-against-staple
Savill, R. (2017). Air traffic control service NATs found guilty of age discrimination. Retrieved from http:// www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/4862480/Air-traffic-control-service-NATs-found-guilty-of-age-discrimination.html
SCHACHTER, H. L. (2013). CONSTRUCTING AGE THROUGH BONA FIDE OCCUPATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS: DE JURE DISCRIMINATION'S LAST STAND?. Public Administration Quarterly, 37(3), 374-393.
Wallop, H. (2017). 42-year old wins age discrimination case. Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/6906484/42-year-old-wins-age-discrimination-case.html
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