A 60-year-old former employee is taking legal action against his previous employer, alleging age discrimination and wrongful termination. Michael Bonafiglia filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on August 15, 2024, against Steris Barrier Products Solutions, Inc.
According to the court documents, Bonafiglia worked for Steris Barrier Products Solutions for approximately 12 years, starting in June 2011. He was promoted multiple times during his tenure, most recently to Team Leader, Operations in August 2022. Bonafiglia claims that despite his over 40 years of experience in the field, he faced increasing hostility and discrimination from his supervisors after Erin Cuellar became Director of Operations at the Sharon Hill facility about two to two-and-a-half years ago.
Bonafiglia alleges that Cuellar favored younger employees and treated older employees like himself with condescension and hostility. He states that Cuellar questioned him multiple times about when he planned to retire and suggested that older employees should make room for younger ones due to their "age" and "experience." Bonafiglia objected to these discriminatory remarks but claims his concerns were ignored.
The situation escalated when Cuellar required older supervisors and lead employees to complete Microsoft Excel training within 30 days or face termination. Despite requesting assistance with the training, Bonafiglia alleges he was denied help by management. When he sought help from a co-worker named Elifele Lee, management intervened and prohibited Lee from assisting him further. Ultimately, Bonafiglia offered to step down from his supervisory role to a cutter position but was instead terminated on July 12, 2023.
Bonafiglia believes his termination was pretextual and rooted in age discrimination as well as retaliation for objecting to unfair treatment based on age. He is seeking various forms of relief including back pay, front pay, compensatory damages for emotional distress, liquidated damages for willful misconduct by the defendant, and reimbursement of legal costs.
The case has been assigned Case ID: 2:24-cv-04218. The plaintiff is represented by Ari R. Karpf of Karpf, Karpf & Cerutti P.C.