US Space & Rocket Center accused of firing woman because of her age. Now she’s suing

A woman is suing the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Alabama after she said she was fired over her age and replaced by a “substantially younger” worker with less experience.

The lawsuit states her firing came one day after she complained to HR about the treatment of older workers who she said were held to a different standard by her supervisor compared to younger employees at the Huntsville-based center.

The former sales manager, who her lawyer confirmed is 50, accuses the supervisor of making negative comments toward older workers such as “it smells like old ladies in here,” according to the lawsuit filed in federal court on June 24.

The woman accuses the U.S. Space & Rocket Center of age discrimination and causing her “emotional distress” after bringing the matter to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the lawsuit states. The EEOC granted her the right to sue the center.

McClatchy News contacted the center for comment on June 30 and was awaiting a response.

Supervisor accused of calling older workers the ‘old ladies’ club’

While the woman worked at the center as a manager ahead of her firing in May 2021, she said her female supervisor would refer to the older women who worked below them as the “old ladies’ club,” according to the complaint.

When one worker, who the woman managed and was described as older than 40, left early without notifying anyone, her supervisor ordered her to fire her, the complaint states.

However, the woman alleges she noticed younger workers would frequently leave early without permission while also continuously arriving late and taking two-hour lunches with no repercussions.

After she was told to fire a 62-year-old female worker, the woman went to HR on May 21 of last year to speak out against how older workers were treated, according to the complaint. She was fired the next day even though she had done her job as expected, according to the lawsuit.

One day after her firing, she said a 29-year-old man who stepped in for her supervisor, who left temporarily for maternity leave, called her “emotionally unstable.”

Another woman, a 26-year-old “with very little experience,” was then hired as the center’s new sales manager in her place, according to the complaint.

The center’s alleged age discrimination has resulted in her suffering, including “pain, inconvenience, mental anguish” and “loss of enjoyment of life,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit seeks to stop the center from discriminating against other workers in the future and award the woman back pay and money for attorney fees among other costs related to the filing, it states.

The center, a museum that displays its large collection of rockets and items relating to space, is affiliated with the Smithsonian and NASA.

Huntsville is roughly 100 miles north of Birmingham.

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