09-3015 Runyon v. Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc.

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Employment
Age discrimination

Where an employee had a turbulent relationship with co-workers from the start, and had several heated disputes with them, his termination was not age discrimination.

“Extrusion explained at trial that Runyon was fired primarily because he was involved in three altercations. This is consistent with earlier statements from company officials. Hamilton told Runyon that he was losing his job because he did not fit in. The personnel records show that Runyon was fired for creating a hostile work environment, which seems like a reasonable enough way to describe his effect on his co-workers. Hamilton also mentioned at trial that Runyon’s failure to accept responsibility for his actions in his apology letter played a part in the decision. That is not so much a shift in explanation as an indication that Extrusion had reason to believe that the problems it was experiencing with Runyon were not likely to go away. Cf. Schuster v. Lucent Technologies, Inc., 327 F.3d 569, 578-79 (7th Cir. 2003).”

Affirmed.

09-3015 Runyon v. Applied Extrusion Technologies, Inc.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, McKinney, J., Wood, J.

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