He says he could out-type the whole team - then came the write-up
A 67-year-old former Allstate appraiser says his team leader called him “the old guy of the group,” then fired him for being too slow. Now he is suing.
The former employee filed suit against Allstate Insurance Company in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey on September 3, 2026, alleging age discrimination and retaliation under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act, known as the ADEA, and the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, or NJLAD.
According to the complaint, the appraiser joined Allstate in December 2024 and was later moved into a newly created remote unit that the company was bringing back in-house. He says he was told the assignment would last six months.
The appraiser, who says he had more than 35 years in the industry, alleges that his new team leader chuckled during an early virtual meeting and called him “the old guy of the group.” He found the remark hurtful and insulting, the filing says.
From there, the complaint describes a workload it says was “designed to set him up for failure.” Most adjusters handled roughly 10 to 15 claims, he alleges, while he was at one point carrying around 50. He says he was also handed a disproportionate share of West Coast and Central US files even though he worked from the East Coast - while a younger colleague, also on the East Coast, drew mostly local claims.
The time difference, he says, stretched his days to as long as twelve hours, chasing customers who called back after his shift had ended. Then, in October 2025, came his first and only write-up: too slow. That was despite the department scoring 4.5 against a 4.0 benchmark, according to the filing.
When he challenged the write-up by phone the next month, the complaint says the same team leader told him he was slower than the “younger guys,” struggled with computers, and that his pace came down to his age. He says he pushed back - telling the manager he could out-type anyone on the team - and asked directly whether age was the real issue.
The remarks did not stop, the filing alleges. At a December 2025 staff dinner, it says, his direct supervisor introduced the new unit to other employees and called him the “oldest guy of the group.”
On January 2, 2026, his team leader told him he was being let go for “performance issues,” according to the complaint. When he asked to speak with a superior, the filing says, he was told the decision had come from Human Resources.
That last point is the one HR leaders will notice. The complaint places the firing decision with HR and sets it against a run of age-related remarks from two managers, a workload the appraiser says was far heavier than his colleagues’, and a write-up that, according to the filing, came while his unit was meeting its performance goals. He filed a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on June 11, 2026, and received a right-to-sue notice on July 6, 2026. He is seeking lost wages, plus punitive and other damages.
None of the allegations have been tested in court, and no judge has ruled.
