JACKSONVILLE –  This week Jim Garrity sued a Florida school district for age and gender discrimination, following the district’s abrupt firing of its long-time, certified, and highly successful female Director of Food Services.  The lawsuit alleges that the male superintendent replaced her with a younger male whose LinkedIn profile listed four football coaching jobs, several construction jobs, and a job in New York as a laundry room manager.

Our client, now 62, is a highly experienced Director of Food Services with a twelve-year commendable track record in the food industry, including both private and public sector experience.  Her expertise led her to manage a sprawling program of at least seven in-school restaurants for the school board since 2014.  Her ascent to the directorial position was the result of consistent exemplary performance, which did not go unnoticed. Throughout her tenure, she secured top-tier evaluations, the most recent of which showed zero signs of underperformance or inadequacies.

But in March 2022, the complaint alleges, the superintendent abruptly fired her, claiming the school board was going “in a new direction.” The lawsuit asserts that this reason was not the real reason, that the school board’s actions were motivated by unlawful age and gender discrimination. The intricacies of school food services, governed by strict regulations, demand a profound level of knowledge and experience. There were no sudden, drastic changes in the laws, rules, or regulations governing school food service.

The case is now pending in federal court in Jacksonville, Florida.

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