CVN screenshot of defense attorney Reginald Roberts delivering his closing argument
San Bernardino, CA - A California state court jury has sided with a large pool equipment supply company in an age discrimination lawsuit filed by a former employee who claims he was illegally forced out of his job, and the full trial was recorded gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.
The San Bernardino County jury returned their verdict on October 10 in a trial that began on September 19. Plaintiff Manuel Banderas accused Pentair, a publicly traded company with roughly 10,000 employees, of using the threat of termination to get him to quit his longtime warehouse laborer job due to his age.
However Pentair argued Banderas voluntarily resigned, and that repeated workplace infractions - specifically numerous safety violations and a refusal to comply with updated company policies for how employees must clock in and clock out - could have served as reasonable grounds for his termination. While the jury found Banderas was fired they also determined Pentair's decision to terminate an at-will employee did not run afoul of age discrimination laws.
The full trial, including all witness testimony, is available for unlimited on-demand viewing with a subscription to CVN’s online trial video library. CVN’s video library features many of the top plaintiff and defense attorneys in the country in a wide range of practice areas and jurisdictions.
During trial Banderas’ attorney, Michael Alder of Alder Law, focused on the “off the books” nature of the meeting during which Banderas claims he was fired. He detailed Banderas’ generally positive 41 year employment history with the company and its predecessor entity, and he alleged Banderas, then 62, was surprised when he was called into a one-on-one meeting in 2020 with a traveling Pentair HR representative.
With no other witnesses present, Banderas alleged he was explicitly told he was being let go due to his age but that he had the option to take retirement instead. Banderas recalled that upon choosing retirement he was hastily asked to draft a statement on a blank piece of paper, and that the meeting was not memorialized in any form of standard HR documentation for a company large or small.
Alder accused Pentair of dong this to skirt California age discrimination laws, and in addition to compensatory damages he also sought punitive damages after describing to jurors the significant financial and emotional hardship Banderas and his disabled spouse faced with no income and no immediate eligibility for Social Security or Medicare.
Representing Pentair, attorney Reginald Roberts of Sanders Roberts focused heavily on Banderas’ employment record, He presented Banderas as an employee with a history of safety violations - some involving forklift use - and that the company offered him continued training instead of termination.
Roberts stressed that Banderas worked as an at-will employee, and that Pentair could have fired him for any reason or no reason provided it didn’t violate the law.
Roberts suggested that Banderas believed his lengthy employment history meant he didn’t have to comply with updated rest and meal break policies, and that the safety violations alone could have served for grounds for termination. He argued that neither had anything to do with Banderas’ age.
The trial took place before Judge Michael Sachs.
The case is captioned Manuel Banderas v. Pentair Water Pool & Spa Inc., et al., case number CIVSB2118045 in San Bernardino County Superior Court.
E-mail David Siegel at dsiegel@cvn.com