Employer wins age discrimination suit in Prince George’s County

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A Prince George’s County jury has found an employer did not unfairly terminate a 66-year-old man who had been accused of unprofessional workplace conduct.

Richard Eichen filed suit against Jackson and Tull Chartered Engineers for age discrimination and violation of overtime laws. A judge granted summary judgment in favor of the defense on the overtime claim prior to trial.

After a three-day trial, the jury deliberated for less than 20 minutes before returning a verdict in favor of the employer on July 19.

The company was relieved and “felt the legal system had worked,” said Jaime Walker Luse, a partner at Tydings & Rosenberg LLP in Baltimore, who represented the defendant with Courtney B. Amelung. “There was absolutely no evidence of age discrimination. There was nothing there pointing to his age at all.”

Baltimore solo practitioner John B. Stolarz, who represented Eichen, said he intends to appeal the verdict but declined to comment on specific issues for the appeal.

Eichen began working in 2012 for Jackson and Tull, which provides engineering and technical services to government contractors, according to the complaint. In 2014, the company hired two “significantly younger employees” to perform the same work he was doing but later determined it was overstaffed, according to the complaint.

Eichen alleged in his lawsuit Jackson and Tull decided to terminate him, and the contractor overseeing his work on site fabricated disciplinary complaints, including yelling at a co-worker in front of a customer, berating a staff member in front of witnesses and refusing to respond promptly to a request for information about a shipment.

Eichen’s supervisor met with him to discuss these incidents and he refused to acknowledge his inappropriate behavior and continued to demonstrate that he was not a team player, according to Tydings & Rosenberg.

At trial, the defense presented evidence that it reasonably relied on information received from the contractor without further investigation and complied with all disciplinary policies, said Luse. Ten witnesses testified for the defense.

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Richard Eichen v. Jackson and Tull Chartered Engineers

Court: Prince George’s County Circuit

Case No.: CAL16-02114

Judge: Erik H. Nyce

Proceeding: Jury trial

Outcome: Verdict for defense

Dates:

Incident: May 23, 2014

Suit filed: Feb. 4, 2016

Verdict: July 19, 2017

Plaintiff’s Attorney: John B. Stolarz of the Stolarz Law Firm in Baltimore

Defendant’s Attorneys: Jaime Walker Luse and Courtney Amelung of Tydings & Rosenberg LLP in Baltimore

Count: Employment discrimination