The employee, who installed wiring in cargo trailers for more than 10 years, claims to have faced more than 1,000 age-based insults from co-workers, as well as actions including having his tool cabinet taped or glued shut, and his workstation defaced, according to Friday鈥檚 ruling by the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.

After efforts to have management adequately address the situation were unsuccessful, he resigned from his job in August 2018 at age 62, and filed suit against the company in U.S. District Court in South Bend, Indiana, charging violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.  

The district court granted the company鈥檚 motion for summary judgment, concluding the worker could not show his working conditions were so intolerable that 鈥渁 reasonable person could have been compelled to resign.鈥� 

The ruling was overturned by the appeals court in a 2-1 ruling. The majority opinion said the former employee is proceeding under the theory of 鈥渃onstructive discharge,鈥� that the company 鈥渆ffectively fired him by subjecting him to unbearable age-based discrimination.鈥� 

Source: BusinessInsurance.com