A federal judge awarded a former Denver-based RadioShack employee $675,000 in a retaliation lawsuit that he filed against RadioShack.
David Nelson, who had been employed by RadioShack for 25 years, claimed that RadioShack fired him in retaliation after he complained to the human resources department about allegedly being subjected to age discrimination by his supervisor.
In 2007, Nelson, who was 55 years old at the time, was assigned a new 43-year-old supervisor. Within four months, the new supervisor put Nelson on two "performance improvement plans" despite the fact that Nelson had a spotless track record in the 25 years that he worked for RadioShack.
Nelson complained to the HR department about the alleged age discrimination, and he was allegedly fired in retaliation five days later.
Rita Kittle, supervisory trial attorney for the EEOC's Denver Field Office, who tried the case for the EEOC, said, "It is particularly important for the EEOC to vigorously enforce the anti-retaliation provisions in the employment discrimination laws. If employees do not feel comfortable coming forward when they feel they are being discriminated against, the very purpose of the anti-discrimination statutes is eviscerated."
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