A Cole County jury awarded a 27-year veteran of the Department of Corrections $1.7 million in an age discrimination lawsuit on Friday, the woman’s lawyer announced.
The jury found that the state agency violated the Missouri Human Rights Act by subjecting the woman to “age discrimination and executing a campaign to end her career.”
The probation and parole officer first joined the department in 1991. She alleged that management routinely demeaned older personnel and urged leadership to “get rid of deadwood,” according to a news release from her lawyer.
She also said they told leadership to force out “old-timers,” “hire more millennials,” and bring in “new blood,” according to the release.
One manager repeatedly addressed her as “mom,” she said.
“This was a textbook example of age discrimination in violation of the MHRA,” said her lawyer, Cyrus Dashtaki. “Calling a 27-year-old officer ‘mom’ while plotting to clear out ‘deadwood’ and ‘old-timers’ isn’t just offensive , it is illegal.”
The lawyer presented evidence at trial that “exposed a systemic pattern” of 50- to 60-year-old workers forced into early retirement or ousted, while new hires “were almost exclusively” 20- to 30-year olds, according to the release.
Allegedly, when the officer formally complained about the age bias to management, the department “manufactured a pretextual termination,” or gave a false reason for firing her, according to the news release.
The woman assisted jailers and police in subduing a violent offender who escaped their handcuffs in Aug. 2018, according to the release.
The department “weaponized” the event nearly six months later and accused her of possessing her firearm in a secure area to justify her termination, according to the news release.
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