A ruling by the California Supreme Court makes it easier for employees to get their discrimination claims heard in court. Under the old rules, a lawsuit could be tossed out if the employer proves that the discriminatory comments were "stray remarks." This ruling allows discrimination cases to be heard by a jury even if the comments are made by employees who are not in a position to fire, or if the comments happened long before the decision to fire is made.
In this claim, a 54-year-old employee alleges that he was fired because of his age. He says that executives called him an "old man," said that he wasn't a good "cultural fit," and that his ideas were "too old to matter." The company claims that he was fired due to poor performance.