-------------------------
Plaintiff cannot make
out prima facie case of age discrimination if the employer does not
know that the plaintiff was significantly older than the person who was
treated more favorably.
Woodman v. WWOR-TV, Inc.,
411 F.3d
69 (2d
Cir. June 13, 2005) - This is an ADEA wrongful termination action. Brenda
Woodman, age 61, was the General Sales Manager for WWOR, a television
station owned by Chris-Craft. In 2001, The News Corporation (which owns Fox)
acquired Chris-Craft. Fox decided that the advertising departments of WWOR
and WNYW would be consolidated and managed by WNYW's sales manager, Debbie
von Ahrens. She was then 43 years old and she had been a Fox employee for
more than 12 years. Due to this decision, Woodman was terminated. The
termination decision was made by Fox executives who did not know Woodman and
who did not know her age or her age relative to von Ahrens' age. The
district court granted summary judgment for the defendant. The Second
Circuit affirms. Although the employer's knowledge of the employees'
relative ages is usually not at issue, where the employer claims that it did
not know that the employee being replaced was significantly older, the
plaintiff must present such evidence as part of her prima facie case.
Because Woodman had no such evidence, the grant of summary judgment is
affirmed. Click
here
to see actual case.