US Lab to Pay $37 Million in Age Discrimination Case By Dan Atkerson on October 12, 2015

A federal research laboratory will pay $37.25 million to settle an age discrimination case in which the lab allegedly fired 129 employees due to their age. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California, about 45 miles east of San Francisco, gave a statement announcing the settlement deal, but added that it had done nothing wrong.

The case was filed by 129 of 430 employees who were fired in 2007 after the lab began moving away from previous research projects, such as nuclear weapon development. The lab has since shifted focus onto other scientific research.

Mike McElfresh, a physicist who was 51 years old when he was fired, spoke to media about his last day with the lab. He says remembers standing in a long line of other soon-to-be jobless men and women. "There was an assembly line of people ... and you didn't see anyone in that line under 50 years old," he told the Contra Costa Times. Since being terminated, he has struggled to find other work and currently teaches part time at Santa Clara University.

Prior to this case, five of the workers filed claims in two separate cases back in 2013. The results were split with one trial going the lab’s way and the other awarding the plaintiffs $2.73 million.

The $37.25 million will be distributed among the 129 claimants according to their final pay scales while working at the lab.

If you feel that you have been unfairly treated at your workplace or wrongfully terminated because of your age, then contact Dan A. Atkerson. You may be entitled to compensation for age discrimination, and Dan A. Atkerson will fight for you.

Atkerson Law – Dallas employment lawyer