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Calling an employee ‘too old’ doesn’t constitute age bias under ADEA, Court says

Rachel Mucha
by Rachel Mucha
August 3, 2020
1 minute read
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Can a few isolated comments about age result in a hostile work environment?

A Rite Aid employee challenged this question in court. Here’s what the 6th Circuit had to say.

Infrequent, but rude remarks

Michael Kheibari worked at a Michigan Rite Aid as an assistant manager for four years.

Over a period of nine months, he dealt with sporadic age-based comments from his district manager, Daniel Snyder. He called Kheibari “too old”and criticized his abilities due to his age.

Kheibari made multiple attempts to address the issue. He notified a supervisor about Snyder’s behavior, had a conversation with Snyder directly and emailed Rite Aid’s CEO, but nothing changed.

He sued for age-based harassment under the ADEA, but the 6th Circuit rejected his claim. According to the court, Snyder’s conduct was rude, but due to its infrequency, it “hardly” constituted a hostile work environment.

This case shows that “stray remarks” can’t support a claim of age bias. In the workplace, however, even just one biased incident can leave a permanent stain on company culture.

Cite: Amini v. Rite Aid Corp., 7/7/20.

Rachel Mucha
Rachel Mucha
Rachel writes about Human Resource management and has been a member of the HRMorning staff since 2017. She is a graduate of Ithaca College.

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