A 48-year-old former employee of the Boeing Co. and its subsidiary, Sylmar-based Spectrolab Inc. is suing the companies, alleging he was terminated for pretextual reasons in 2023 in connection with the breakage of a tail wing on a plane under repair as well as for an injury he suffered on the job.
Eugene Lamar Flowers alleges in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that he is a victim of age and disability discrimination. His other causes of action are for hostile work environment, retaliation, failure to provide accommodations and engage in the interactive process, negligent hiring supervision and retention and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The Lancaster resident seeks unspecified compensatory damages as well as attorneys’ fees.
“Rather than being valued for his years of service, he has been discarded callously, as if his contributions were no more than a worn-out object, no longer deemed useful simply due to the passage of time,” the suit brought Dec. 18 states.
A Boeing representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit, which states that Flowers was employed both “directly and indirectly” by both companies.
Flowers was hired in January 1996 and was a manufacturing analyst. He often raised concerns about his pay and career advancement opportunities, only to be met with vague responses, according to the suit, which further states he only received two promotions in 27 years.
Flowers was working on the front of a plane in December 2022 when a wing at the plane’s rear fell to the ground and the plaintiff was only told in a subsequent group meeting that employees should “just be more careful,” the suit states.
Two months later, Flowers suffered lacerations to one finger while at work and notified a supervisor, who seemed unsympathetic and concerned while telling Flower to go to the clinic, the suit states. However, the medical staff only cleansed Flowers’ wound and the wound was not stitched until three days later despite the risk of infection, according to the suit.
Flowers was summoned to a meeting in human resources in April 2023 and told he was being terminated, according to the suit. When the plaintiff asked a supervisor whether he was losing his job because of the fallen plane wing or his finger injury, the boss replied that it was a “combination of both,” according to the suit.
Flowers believes that a younger employee was hired to replace him and that the actual reasons for his termination were his age and injury, the suit states.
This emotional and psychological toll has profoundly impacted Flowers’ well-being, according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff also has lost past and future income and employment benefits.