David Nelson gave most of his life to RadioShack. He became a district manager over as many as 51 stores. But when he turned 55 RadioShack pulled his plug.
Suspecting he was the victim of age discrimination, Mr. Nelson turned to the Equal Opportunity Commission, which sued the iconic retailer on his behalf, for age discrimination and retaliation for complaining about age discrimination. Last week, a federal jury found RadioShack’s actions willful, and the court granted him $187,000 in back pay. A judge meanwhile, is considering further remedies.
RadioShack declined to comment on the case, but said it is considering an appeal.
I don’t know if a company disrespects its employees because it’s in trouble, or if a company gets in trouble because it disrespects the people who deal directly with its customers.
RadioShack continues to drag along the bottom of an electronics retailing industry now dominated by Amazon.com. It’s stock, which traded for more than $20 two years ago, could be had for less than $3.
Click here to read my column in The Sunday Wall Street Journal.
