A 66-year-old man from Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against his former employer, alleging age discrimination and a hostile work environment. Nigel Hodges lodged the complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on August 8, 2024, accusing Nationsbenefits Insurance Sales, LLC of multiple violations.
According to the complaint, Hodges began working as a Logistics Assistant at Nationsbenefits on March 13, 2023. He was hired by Steve Dobbs and Bob Prentice due to their shared military background. Initially working under their management, Hodges enjoyed his job and worked a daylight shift from 2:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. However, things took a turn for the worse when Dobbs and Prentice were terminated in June 2023 and replaced by Matt Bowman. Subsequently, Hodges was transferred to an undesirable late shift from 4:30 p.m. to 3:00 a.m.
Hodges claims that Amber Stanifer, one of his supervisors who is in her thirties, created a hostile work environment with verbal abuse and harassment directed at him and another older coworker named Rodger. In November 2023, Stanifer allegedly referred to Rodger as "a fucking cripple" and questioned why he was employed there. The complaint details numerous instances where Stanifer's behavior made Hodges uncomfortable and interfered with his performance.
On October 18, 2023, Stanifer reportedly ripped up a notecard that Hodges had placed in a box as a reminder of its return date while uttering obscenities at him. When Hodges complained about this incident to another supervisor named Mark Shastain and indicated he would escalate it to human resources (HR), he faced retaliation instead of resolution.
Despite reporting these issues to HR representative Heather Daniels on January 8, 2024, no action was taken against Stanifer. Instead, Bowman retaliated by assigning Hodges to work in a confined area without providing him with a chair for ten hours straight—a task that aggravated his stomach hernia.
The situation culminated on January 17 when Hodges informed Bowman that he would seek legal counsel if the hostile work environment did not improve. Bowman's response was immediate termination of Hodges' employment.
In his lawsuit, Hodges alleges violations of both federal law under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and state law under the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act (PHRA). He is seeking compensatory damages for lost wages and benefits along with emotional distress caused by the discriminatory actions of Nationsbenefits Insurance Sales LLC.
Representing Nigel Hodges is attorney Erik M Yurkovich from The Workers’ Rights Law Group LLP based in Pittsburgh PA while Glenn M Parker represents NationsBenefits Insurance Sales LLC located at Plantation FL
The case will be presided over by Judge Deborah Kane under Case ID number 2:24-cv-01140