Manchester man awarded $134K in his age discrimination case against Market Basket

MANCHESTER, NH — A city resident was awarded more than $134,000 in lost wages and damages after a federal jury agreed with him that his supervisors at Market Basket discriminated against him when they twice promoted much younger and less experienced co-workers over him.

In December 2022, Rodney Martinez was 62 years old when he filed the age discrimination lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Concord against DeMoulas Super Markets Inc.

Last week, after a four-day trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Martinez, awarding him $54,749 in back pay and $20,251 in compensatory damages.  They also recommended the court award him an additional $5,000 in enhanced compensatory damages.  The jury found that Market Basket’s conduct was willful under both the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the New Hampshire Law Against Discrimination.

U.S. District Court Andrea K. Johnstone, in an order dated March 29, 2004, said the ADEA allows for doubled backpay in situations involving “willful violations.”  As a result, she awarded Martinez liquidated damages of $54,749 along with the $5,000 in enhanced compensatory damages, bringing the total award to $134,749.

Martinez was represented by Attorneys Chad T. Hansen and Martin Tatre from the Employee Rights Group.

“We are very happy with the result and are hopeful that the jury’s verdict will cause Market Basket to reevaluate its approach to employee promotions and avoid more instances of age discrimination in the future,” Hansen said in a statement.

DeMoulas was represented by attorneys David Betancourt and Dona Feeney.  Justine Griffin, principal of Raksy Partners Inc., a Boston public relations firm, issued a statement on behalf of Market Basket.

“We respect the judicial process but are surprised and disappointed by the decision.  Throughout the trial, there were clear and compelling reasons provided regarding why Mr. Martinez was not promoted sooner.  Market Basket is a company that prides itself on the longevity of our associates; it is part of our culture.  Many people who join our team remain with us throughout their career, which is something that we believe provides great value to our company and to our customers.  We are currently evaluating whether to take an appeal of the decision,” she said.

Martinez, who was born in 1957, filed the lawsuit against DeMoulas Super Markets, Inc., owners of the Market Basket chain based in Tewksbury, Mass., in December of 2022.  He was 55 years old when he was hired in 2012 to work part-time in the produce department at the Manchester store.  He alleged he was employed for seven years when his superiors promoted a 27-year-old co-employee to a fulltime position over him in May of 2019.

Martinez had 12 years of experience in retail and a master’s degree in education.

After that younger employee was fired, he said in his lawsuit, Market Basket in December 2019 promoted a 22-year-old to the full-time position over him. That employee had worked at the store for three years while Martinez had worked there for seven years.

Martinez was a “hard-working” employee who was never disciplined, never called out and only missed one day of work because of a work-related injury when got bleach in his eye, according to court documents.   Oftentimes, he worked more than 45 hours a week without receiving benefits of a full-time employee, i.e., paid vacation, sick leave, profit sharing and dental insurance.

“After more than seven years of working as a part-time employee for the defendant, [Martinez] was passed over for a promotion to become a full-time employee for a younger and less qualified employee,” the lawsuit stated. “Simply put, Martinez was discriminated against because of his age.”

According to Martinez’ lawsuit, after the 27-year-old was fired, he talked to his manager about a promotion to full-time.  “What are you, about sixty?” he said the manager asked.

The manager, according to court documents, then said there was a push for young people to promote to managers in the near future. Martinez replied that nevertheless, he was highly interested in being promoted.

The manager’s superiors, he was told, wanted to know “Would he agree to step down to part-time status again when he gets too old ?”

DeMoulas Super Markets, in court papers, said that conversation never happened and that Martinez never said he wanted to work full-time.

Prior to filing the lawsuit, Martinez filed a complaint with the state’s Human Rights Commission, which found in his favor.  The commission said that between 2017 and 2019, 32 out of 37 employees who Market Basket promoted were under the age of 38.

Commission investigators Dan Deyermond and Nancy LeRoy wrote in their Aug. 29, 2022 decision that Martinez provided sufficient evidence demonstrating Market Basket “treated him differently based on his age.”