Dallas court to employee in age discrimination case: ‘Where’s the evidence?’

Remember the TV commercial for the fast-food chain in which a customer looks suspiciously at a burger from a rival chain and exclaims, “Where’s the beef?” I thought of this when reading a Dallas court’s dismissal of an age discrimination claim.

What is a 12(b)(6)?

In federal court, employers are given the chance—at the very start—to ask for dismissal of a lawsuit because it fails to allege facts supporting the claim. This is called a Rule 12(b)(6) motion.

It recently tanked an age discrimination/retaliation claim. Here’s how it works.

State your facts

First, an employee alleges he was fired and replaced by a person younger than him.

This sounds good, does it not? After all, this is the essence of discrimination because of age, right?

Well, no. The law requires more. Here is the court’s opinion:

[Employee] only alleges that he was replaced by a young woman. [He] fails to allege his replacement’s age, and he fails to provide any facts for the Court to conclude that she was substantially younger than him.