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The Second Circuit Court of Appeals revived an age discrimination suit, O’Reilly v. Marina Dodge, killed on summary judgment in the Western District of New York, finding that the Defendant’s proffered reasons for its termination of the Plaintiff to be pre-textual.

O’Reilly, 58 years old, worked as a salesman in the service department at Marina Dodge. He had a stellar work history, was replaced by a 36-year old, and was the target of several ageist remarks. The Court found: “…there is no evidence that O’Reilly ever was disciplined for not bringing in enough work or for being disorganized, nor is there evidence that he was spoken to about these matters. A reasonable jury could find that these post hoc explanations were pretextual.”

Furthermore, the Court rejected Defendant’s argument that it could not have discriminated against O’Reilly because it employed other older workers outside of the service department after O’Reilly was fired.

The Court concluded:

O’Reilly presented significant evidence that he enjoyed work and had a positive attitude, performed well at work, yet suffered arguably ageist jokes from Marina Dodge employees, including its president. A reasonable jury could find that but for his age, Marina Dodge would not have fired O’Reilly. Thus, the district court erred in granting summary judgment for Marina Dodge. For the foregoing reasons, the district court’s judgment is VACATED and the case is REMANDED for further proceedings.

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