Florida readers may be familiar with The Ziegenfelder Company which is well known for its cold confection treats. A former employee of the company alleges that working there was not quite as sweet as the company's products and has filed a wrongful termination claim in a state court. He alleges that after failing a drug test while on medication and later proving he was clean, he lost his job anyways due to employment discrimination based on his age.
The plaintiff was chosen for a random drug test and willingly participated. When he took the test, he allegedly had been taking over-the-counter medication which caused a false positive reading for opiates. The 27-year-veteran complained and asked to retake the test.
When he did so, the test came back negative for drugs. The then 52-year-old purportedly explained that he was taking over-the-counter medication at the time of the first test, which caused the original test to register positive. He was fired xix days after he retook the test.
The plaintiff contends that his firing was not because of the drug test, but was due to his age; other co-workers who failed the test apparently did not lose their jobs. After his firing, he alleges that a younger employee resumed his job duties. He maintains that Ziegenfelder wrongfully terminated him based on age discrimination and accuses the company of violating the West Virginia Human Rights Act. Despite laws in place to protect workers here in Florida, employment discrimination still occurs. With evidence to support their claims, aggrieved parties may be awarded lost wages and other monetary damages and could help prevent similar unlawful employment acts from happening to others.
Source: wvrecord.com, "Former Ziegenfelder employee believes he was fired because of his age", Hoang Tran, Jan. 22, 2016