was at risk of further injury to his spine and hips.
Barnes testified that he believed that he was discriminated against because he knew of younger employees who were allowed to return to work after an injury. In addition, he observed supervisors Tony Levy and Charles Holloway assigning older workers to younger workers to break off older workers. Barnes described "break him off" to mean wearing out older slower workers by making them run after trucks to catch up, and eventually they would quit.
The workers' compensation insurer found that Barnes was unable to continue working in his Driver/Pitcher position. Barnes settled his claim in January 2005. Barnes received a lump sum payment for vocational rehabilitation of $15,000 and a lump sum payment for a permanent partial disability rating fordepartment were moved to the second floor of the building and they began reporting to Laura's husband, Bernie Lucido. Prior to the move, Lucido reported to Sheryl Martello. People in the company were concerned about Lucido reporting to her husband and there were discussions of moving her elsewhere. Martello stated she would take her back and a few weeks prior to her termination offered Ms. Lucido a position in customer service. Martello states that Ms. Lucido turned down the offer because she wanted something in management and did not want to answer phones. Lucido testified that in 2002 Martello told her that they would be opening up a collection department and they wanted her to run it. The collection department, however, did not open until August 2004.
Ms. Lucido