Old Navy Managers’ Emails Not Direct Proof of Age Bias

A 40-year-old general manager of an Old Navy store in Pennsylvania who was repeatedly warned about her poor performance can’t show she was fired because of her age, a federal judge ruled.

Jennifer Kane’s primary argument was that an email exchange between her supervisor and an Old Navy regional human resources manager was direct evidence of discrimination. In the emails, the HR manager advised Kane’s supervisor to follow every step of the company’s progressive discipline policy in dealing with Kane’s alleged failure to properly develop her store leaders and other performance issues, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District ...