In February 2022, Shirley Noble was fired from her receptionist job at the Covenant Woods Retirement Community in Columbus, Ga. The 78-year-old had been briefly hospitalized, and while she was out, her employer replaced her with an employee 30 years her junior. Noble was given 3 options: (1) work the receptionist role on Sundays only, (2) transfer to another unspecified position in an unspecified department, or (3) accept a “volunteer ambassador” role without pay. Noble instead chose to file an age discrimination suit against her employer with the EEOC, who alleged that the company fired the long-tenured receptionist, despite having recognized her as Employee of the Year a month before she was fired. The company says they had “lost confidence in her ability to work.” Now Noble is set to receive a settlement in the amount of $78,000. Brian Hendricks, CFO of Covenant Woods, said they resolved the case due to the cost of litigating it, while not admitting to any wrongdoing or discriminatory conduct.
78-Year-Old Receptionst Was Employee of the Year Right Before Being Fired
In February 2022, Shirley Noble was fired from her receptionist job at the Covenant Woods Retirement Community in Columbus, Ga. The 78-year-old had been briefly hospitalized, and while she was out, her employer replaced her with an employee 30 years her junior. Noble was given 3 options: (1) work the receptionist role on Sundays only, (2) transfer to another unspecified position in an unspecified department, or (3) accept a “volunteer ambassador” role without pay. Noble instead chose to file an age discrimination suit against her employer with the EEOC, who alleged that the company fired the long-tenured receptionist, despite having recognized her as Employee of the Year a month before she was fired. The company says they had “lost confidence in her ability to work.” Now Noble is set to receive a settlement in the amount of $78,000. Brian Hendricks, CFO of Covenant Woods, said they resolved the case due to the cost of litigating it, while not admitting to any wrongdoing or discriminatory conduct.