A 62-year-old was regarded as a “good” employee during the ten years that she was employed. A new site director, who had previously worked at the same facility, allegedly commented that she thought the 62-year-old had already retired. At an office party. She told the 62-year-old that “You better slow down because at your age you’re going to have a heart attack if you keep this up.” Another manager allegedly told another employee that “now that [the 62-year-old] is getting older she seems to forget a lot and is always repeating herself.” 

A complaint surfaced from an employee who said that someone within the company had improperly disclosed the employee’s confidential medical information. An investigation was launched and it was determined from the initial interviews that the 62-year-old (an HR technician/assistant) had disclosed the confidential information to another HR associate, who in turn shared it with others outside of their department. The HR associate signed a statement implicating the 62-year-old as the source of the confidential informatin, but subsequently supplemented her statement by suggesting that the confidential information had also been disclosed in a manner independent from the 62-year-old’s conduct, and still later (after the conclusion of the investigation) disavowed her statements entirely. The 62-year-old continued to deny any wrongdoing. However, managers believed that the 62-year-old gave inconsistent answers to their questions and had discussed other employees’ confidential medical information. In a conference call involving multiple managers, the two managers who had made comments related to the woman’s age recommended termination. Termination was authorized by the corporate vice president of HR. The much younger (23-year-old) HR associate was also terminated. Is this age discrimination? Why or why not?