$3)$ 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$$s confidential medical information. An investigation was launched and it was determined from the initial interviews that the $62-$year$-$old $($an HR technician$/$assistant$)$ had disclosed the confidential information to another HR associate, who in turn shared it with others outside of their department. The HR associate signed a statement implicating the $62-$year$-$old as the source of the confidential information, but subsequently supplemented her statement by suggesting that the confidential information had also been disclosed in a manner independent from the $62-$year$-$old$$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? $($Simmons v$.$ Sykes Enterprises, $647$ F$\mathrm{.}3$d $943(10$th Cir. $2011)).$