-------------------------

Employee's termination as part of a reduction in force did not violate either the ADA or the ADEA.

Rowe v. Marley Co., 233 F.3d 825 (4th Cir. December 1, 2000) - Rowe was a regional sales manager whose territory included Virginia and West Virginia. He was a diabetic who underwent a kidney and pancreas transplant in 1993. In 1997, he lost his job in a reduction in force. His territory was divided between the regional sales manager who covered New England and the Mid-Atlantic states; and the regional sales manager who covered the Carolinas and Georgia. Marley decided to not retain Rowe (as opposed to one of the other sales managers) because it believed that Rowe (as a Southerner) would not be successful in the Northeast territory; and the sales manager in the Carolinas and Georgia was very close to Marley's best distributor in that region. Rowe's claims under the ADA and the ADEA fail because he could not establish pretext. Click here to see actual case.