Takeaway: This ruling should remind employers to consider a variety of risk mitigation measures to set themselves up for success in defending against wrongful termination claims. This includes employers issuing litigation holds as soon as they reasonably anticipate litigation, as lost or deleted emails and documents can lead to the exclusion of critical evidence at trial.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the district court should not have granted a company summary judgment on a former general manager’s Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) lawsuit because the key evidence the company relied upon to justify the general manager’s termination could not be authenticated and was inadmissible. Without this key evidence, the company had little evidentiary support for its position that it fired the general manager due to the culture at his restaurant, creating a triable issue of fact as to whether the company’s stated reason for the termination was a pretext for unlawful discrimination.
The former general manager managed a company restaurant in Nashville, Tenn. By all objective metrics, the former general manager’s restaurant was one of the top performers in its market. Nonetheless, the company terminated the former general manager’s employment and replaced him with a 33-year-old employee with no managerial experience.
The company claimed its termination decision stemmed from complaints about the “toxic culture” at the general manager’s restaurant. The...
The offshore world has always attracted strong opinions. It’s complex, global, and full of moving parts that most people don’t fully understand. Mix that with online anonymity and you suddenly hav...