A longtime logistics company executive who has held jobs for the firm in Europe and the United States, including in Torrance, is suing his former employer for age discrimination, alleging they used a ruse to get him to take the bait that led to his termination.
Stefan Minder, 62, brought the suit Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court against Kuehne+Nagel Inc., also alleging wrongful termination as well as intentional and negligent misrepresentation.
Minder seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A Kuehne+Nagel representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Minder was hired in 1996 and has held executive positions worldwide for Kuehne+Nagel including in Turkey, the Mediterranean, Spain, Portugal, France and Torrance. From April 2012 to June 2023, Minder was vice president of the western region and has received “glowing annual employment reviews and was revered” by his co-workers, the suit states.
But despite Minder’s successful record, in early 2023, Kuehne+Nagel “sought to terminate him because of his age and needed a plausible story to cover up its premeditated discriminatory actions,” according to the suit.
In March and April 2023, Kuehne+Nagel approached the plaintiff about a new role, the suit states. But the offer was an “oft-used ploy in these situations: remove an aging, high performing, well-paid employee from his established role under the guise of a promotion” and then quickly terminate the person, the suit alleges.
“Unfortunately, Minder never suspected the ploy and took the bait,” according to his suit.
The job proposal was for a newly created role of vice president of customer and employee experience for North America, part of a new group referred to as “K+N Experience,” the suit states.
Kuehne+Nagel’s president and CEO verbally assured Minder that he would be employed in the role until the end of 2026 and said that if his position was eliminated before then, the company would find him another job where he could work until his planned March 2027 retirement date, the suit states.
The pay for the new position was worth more than $700,000 annually and the firm assured Minder that he was a “perfect fit” for the job, the suit states.
But on April 8 of this year, Kuehne+Nagel terminated Minder and told him his role was being eliminated as part of a company restructuring, the suit states.
“Minder was shocked,” according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff was given “no tangible, work-related reason why he was being terminated.”
But it later became clear to Minder that his dismissal was age-related because all of his younger co-workers in the Experience unit were offered new positions, the suit states.
“To add insult to injury, (Minder’s) previous position … remains filled by the younger, less experienced replacement whom Minder identified and trained,” according to the complaint.
Minder’s termination has caused him both economic damage and emotional distress, the suit states.