Abbott Labs Sales Director to Get Trial on Age Bias Claims

A former sales director for Abbott Laboratories Inc. will be able to bring his age discrimination claim to trial, because he’s presented enough evidence that the healthcare company’s stated reason for his firing was a pretext, a federal court in New Jersey said.

Richard Rudolph oversaw sales to distributor and ambulatory end-user customers like medical offices, urgent care centers, and small hospitals for Abbott Diagnostics. He was terminated in 2017 and replaced with a younger employee. Rudolph brought claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination.

Rudolph has presented enough evidence that a ...