A 60-year-old former Rams equipment assistant who worked for the NFL team in both St. Louis and Los Angeles is suing the organization for discrimination, alleging he was demoted and later terminated because he spoke out about a hostile work environment in which a boss repeatedly chided him because of his age
Adam “Merg” Mirghanbari’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include age discrimination and harassment, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation and various state Labor Code violations. He seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages in the suit brought Monday.
A Rams representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mirghanbari saw his first Rams game in 1966 at age 3, when the team was originally based in Los Angeles. He became a full-time employee of the team in 2011 after the organization moved to St. Louis and he remained with the organization when it returned to Los Angeles five years later.
Mirghanbari’s job duties as an equipment assistant included upkeep of protective equipment, assisting coaches with drills as well as maintenance checks of practice and field equipment.
Mirghanbari was dedicated to his job and the success of the team and was well-respected by coach Sean McVay and McVay’s staff, the suit states. But during the plaintiff’s employment, he was not permitted to record all of his employment hours and was expected to work off-the-clock, according to the suit.
Mirghanbari was required to work from home during the pandemic and was told that due to budget constrains, he could not be paid for all of his hours worked or for missed meal and rest breaks, the suit alleges.
In addition to the pay issues, the team’s equipment director made offensive comments about Mirghanbari’s age, referring to him as “old” and “old man,” or “OG” for “old guy,” the suit states.
Mirghanbari was demoted to a part-time position as equipment intern in July 2020 and was not paid for the time spent doing mandatory team coronavirus testing, according to the suit, which further states that during preseason practice, the equipment director said Mirghanbari was the only employee the Rams needed to worry about acquiring the coronavirus because of his age.
The disparate comments about the plaintiff’s age continued during the 2021 NFL season, when Burger allegedly said Mirghanbari was an “old man mascot” and “old as dirt,” and the equipment director even made a snide remark after McVay gave the plaintiff a game ball in owner Stan Kroenke’s presence after a December 2021 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the suit states.
Mirghanbari was terminated in February 2023 in a meeting with team management, whose members told him the team was going in a “different direction,” according to the suit, which the plaintiff believes was the Rams’ excuse for his complaints about discrimination and retaliation.
Mirghanbari has suffered lost income and emotional distress since losing his job, the suit states.