Here, a jury verdict was entered in favor of Barbara Carle (Carle), a former manager of McChord Credit Union, for wrongful discharge based upon age discrimination.

The jury awarded the former manager $100,000.00 for age discrimination, another $18,000.00 for negligent infliction of mental distress and more than $47,000.00 in attorney fees.

Barbara Carle was a branch manager of McChord Credit Union in Washington State. The credit union expanded and reorganized its offices.

Although Carle was the branch manager, her position was eliminated in the reorganization. Carle was offered and accepted a substitute position as a new accounts supervisor. She also accepted a significantly lower salary for the new position.

Carle was 43 years of age at the time of the reassignment. Shortly thereafter, the credit union conducted a credit report on Carle and determined that her credit history was not acceptable with the policy of the credit union to employ only individuals with superior credit records.

While the court indicated that no credit investigations had been conducted on other employees, Carle was discharged, allegedly due to some minor credit history problems (which she disputed).

Carle was replaced by a 31 year old with far less experience than she had, and the new individual replacing her had less than one-third of her experience in the financial industry.

The jury found that McChord’s termination of this 43 year old former manager was age discrimination.

The appellate court found that the jury had properly found the requisite elements of age discrimination:

 (1) that the employee was discharged from employment at a time that he/she was between 40 and 70 years of age; (2) that at the time of discharge the employee was performing satisfactory; and (3) that he/she was replaced by a younger person.

In conclusion, the appellate court affirmed the jury verdict in favor of the former manager to the extent of $100,000.00 and affirmed the award of $47,000.00 for attorney fees. Barbara Carle vs. McChord Credit Union (Court of Appeals of Washington, No. 13386-5- II).

EDITOR’S COMMENT

There is a presumption in the law that any employee between the ages of 40 and 70 years of age may have been discharged as a result of age discrimination. This presumption is especially enhanced if that employee is later replaced by someone of a younger age.

This situation is even more pronounced if the new younger employee is paid less than the older employee who was dismissed. All of these factors were exhibited in the case above.

Caution should be displayed whenever any employee is discharged in the above age category since liability could result, such as in the case above.

Author: Charles R. Harroun, Attorney at Law