L.A. man awarded $26M in age discrimination lawsuit against Staples
A 66-year-old Los Angeles man was awarded $26 million after a jury found that he was harassed and discriminated against by his supervisors at Framingham-based Staples.
The Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Bobby Nickel on Feb. 27 $3.2 million in compensatory damages and $22.8 million in punitive damages, the largest such award in Los Angeles County history, according to the law firm representing Nickel.
Nickel was originally hired in August 2002 as a facilities manager at Corporate Express, which was acquired by Staples in 2008. After that, Nickel began getting written up for minor infractions in what his lawyers said was an effort to push older, higher-paid employees out of the company.
“We allege that he was being set up by Staples Inc. to be terminated due to his age,” said Rosanna Vargas, a legal assistant with Sherigan & Associates, which represented Nickel.
Nickel was fired on July 29, 2011, for allegedly stealing a 68-cent bell pepper from the company cafeteria. He was intending to pay later as part of an honor system set up by the cafeteria vendor, Vargas said.
Nickel sued Staples in March 2012, claiming that he was also subject to years of insults such as “old coot” and “old goat” while working at the company.
Staples spokesman Mark Cautela said the company disagrees with the verdict and plans to further pursue this matter through the courts.
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