Pepperidge Farm Trims Former Employee’s Race, Age Bias Claims

Pepperidge Farm Inc. won the dismissal of age and race discrimination claims brought by a Black employee who was fired when he was 59 years old, ostensibly, for moving a golf cart with a forklift.

Anthony Joseph’s race discrimination claims fail because he didn’t identify “any similarly-situated comparators who were treated more favorably,” nor did he allege facts that support an inference of race discrimination, Judge Kelley B. Hodge of the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania said. The court, however, granted leave to re-file his race discrimination claims.

Joseph cited as a comparator Susan Rollins, a ...