CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

'I never intended to retire:' Fired 78-year-old worker suing nursing home for age discrimination

Patriot-News (Harrisburg, PA) - 2/10/2016

Feb. 10--A federal judge is refereeing a legal battle between a 78-year-old woman who insists she never intended to retire and officials of a Lebanon County nursing home who she claims fired her because of her age.

The instigator of the U.S. Middle District Court fight is Joanne Marie Showers, who is seeking more than $150,000 in damages in her age discrimination lawsuit against Cornwall Manor. The Rexmont woman also is asking Judge Yvette Kane to order the home to reinstate her as a housekeeping manager.

Cornwall Manor officials, meanwhile, are contending that Showers was terminated during a staff restructuring. They deny discriminating against her because of her age.

According to her lawsuit, Showers worked at Cornwall Manor for 48 years until she was fired last July. In the year before she was canned, two home officials told her she should either "start thinking about the future" or "think about retiring," her suit states. Showers claims she told them, "she didn't need to think about it, she did not want to retire; she wanted to keep working."

On July 31, two home officials told her that her job was being terminated and "we have nothing else for you," she contends. When a new housekeeping manager opening was posted, she was told she wouldn't be considered for the job. One of her former subordinates, a woman in her 40s, got that post, Showers claims, while home officials lied and told residents she had voluntarily retired.

Her firing, she insists, "was motivated by...Cornwall Manor's desire to terminate older employees and replace them with substantially younger employees" in violation of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

That's not true, Cornwall Manor officials counter in reply to Showers' suit.

Despite her claims to the contrary, Showers was not receiving satisfactory performance evaluations before she was fired, they contend. They claim she was cited for "deficiencies in leading and team building, communications skills, problem solving, decision making and creativity and relationship with others."

Home officials claim one manager made a comment to Showers about retiring when he disciplined her in June 2014 for speaking loudly and abusively to co-workers.

Her supposed deficiencies led to her firing during the restructuring, they contend, and to the decision that she wasn't suited for the revised housekeeping manager post that included duties she had never performed.

Cornwall Manor leaders concede they told residents Showers had retired. They claim they did so to spare Showers the discomfort of having co-workers and residents ask why she didn't get the new supervisory job.

Her suit should be dismissed because they had "legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons" for letting her go, home officials contend.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/06/fired_80-year-old_secretarys_l.html

___

(c)2016 The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.)

Visit The Patriot-News (Harrisburg, Pa.) at www.pennlive.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Nationwide News