Age Discrimination Suit Rules In Favor Of Ex-Lockheed Martin Engineer
It’s not uncommon for people to work well into their sixties, and even longer, especially if they’re doing something they love. It certainly wouldn’t be right to get rid of people as they age. After all, over the years employees build and acquire particular sets of skills that can benefit companies they work for. So naturally, ageism isn’t a thing in today’s day an age, not in America. Wrong. Age discrimination is alive and well, and all too often employees are let go because they’re deemed too old or unfit to carry out a job that they are more than capable of doing. This was true for Robert Braden, a former engineer at Lockheed Martin who was 66 years old when he was fired back in 2012 due to age discrimination. In a lawsuit, he accused Lockheed Martin, a defense contractor, of laying him off because of his age. Fortunately for Braden, a federal jury unanimously sided with him and awarded him “$50 million in punitive damages, $520,000 for economic loss, and $520,000 for pain and suffering.”
