Abington Memorial Hospital hit with age discrimination claim

A New Jersey man who alleges he was fired from his job of nearly a decade at Abington Memorial Hospital in Montgomery County, Pa. has filed a job discrimination lawsuit against his former employer.

Penndel, Pa. attorneys Timothy M. Kolman, Wayne A. Ely, Eman Abouelseoud and Lalena J. Turchi, of the firm Kolman Ely, P.C., filed the federal complaint Aug. 24 at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on behalf of William C. Morelli of Wildwood Crest, N.J.

The complaint alleges that the defendant, Abington Memorial Hospital, located in Abington, Pa., fired Morelli on Oct. 12, 2009 because of his age. Morelli had started working for the institution in January 2001.

His first position with the hospital was that of a network analyst.

After achieving several years of “service, stellar work history and positive feedback from Defendant,” Morelli began to pursue advancement, the complaint states.

In December 2008, Morelli was interviewed for the position of technical service manager, but he ended up losing out on that promotion to a hospital employee in his 20s with allegedly less qualifications and not as many years on the job as the plaintiff.

Similarly, Morelli was interviewed for a team leadership position in January 2009, but again he lost out to someone his junior.

“No explanation or feedback was given for why Plaintiff was not selected for the positions despite having seniority above the individuals selected and above-par qualifications,” the suit states. “It became apparent to Plaintiff that he was being denied advancement because of his age.”

After this occurred, the suit claims, Morelli began receiving work assignments not typically given to network analysts.

On Oct. 2, 2009, Morelli was sent home without explanation; later that same day he said he was being put on suspension for job related duties. Ten days later, Morelli was terminated from his position with the hospital.

“The reason for Plaintiff’s termination was alleged insubordination,” the lawsuit states.

“Plaintiff was treated differently than younger workers in that younger employees were not disciplined for same or similar reasons.”

Through his lawsuit, Morelli alleges violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.

Morelli seeks to have the hospital barred from engaging in further discrimination, he looks to be compensated monetarily for things like back pay, front pay, bonuses, pension and benefits, he looks to receive compensation for pain, suffering and humiliation caused by his ordeal, and he seeks costs related to the litigation.

A jury trial has been demanded.

The federal case number is 2:11-cv-05362-HB.