To her manager, Jolyn McDonald was known as Grandma: Was it just a nickname or age discrimination? 54-year-old McDonald worked 17 years at a Best Buy store in Illinois, eventually rising to the position of customer service manager. She’d received years of positive performance reviews.

After Best Buy adopted a new business model, McDonald’s store manager gave her a written warning for failing to adapt to the new standards.

McDonald was put on a performance improvement plan and was told that the company had higher expectations of her compared with others in her position because of her number of years with the company.

When a new store manager took over, he started calling her “Grandma” in front of other employees.

Not long after that, McDonald was told she was being demoted because of poor performance by her staff.

She quit and filed an Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) lawsuit. Employees must prove either direct age discrimination or “circumstantial evidence” that suggests discrimination. McDonald argued the nickname made the case for circumstantial evidence.

Best Buy argued “Grandma” wasn’t an age-related nickname because people under 40 could be grandparents, too. It used that argument to try to get the case thrown out of court.

‘Grandma’ wins her argument

The court ruled in McDonald’s favor, saying a reasonable jury could conclude that age discrimination was a reason for her demotion. In the court’s words, she was “unquestionably labeled with the moniker because of her age or personal characteristics properly associated with persons of an older generation.” Being held to a higher standard than employees under 40 with fewer years experience was also a factor in the court’s decision to deny the company summary judgment.

The next step for this case is a jury trial. However, companies often decide to settle out of court rather than spend the time, resources and expense on a jury trial. A loss could mean an expensive jury award.

Have you ever had a problem at your company because of employees’ nicknames? Has ageism been an issue? Let us know in the Comments Box below.