A senior worker says Wawa skipped its own discipline rules - then walked her out the door
A former Wawa employee says the chain fired her at 57 after she complained about age discrimination - and claims HR ignored her.
Lori Graff filed suit against Wawa, Inc. in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 5, 2026, bringing claims under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act. She is seeking back pay, front pay, compensatory damages, liquidated damages, and attorneys' fees.
Graff joined Wawa in January 2018 and worked as a Senior Quality Assurance Risk & Safety Professional out of the company's Media, Pennsylvania offices. According to the complaint, she began reporting to Amanda Douglas in February 2020. Douglas, a younger manager, reported to Nancy Wilson, the Director of Quality Assurance & Risk Management, who is also younger than Graff. Graff says she was the oldest employee reporting up to Douglas.
The filing alleges Graff was sidelined for years. She was ignored, assigned lower-level tasks, ostracized, and denied a Certified Professional in Food Safety certification that Wawa paid for younger team members to obtain. Graff alleges Douglas once told her she did not like Graff's face, and could not explain the comment when pressed.
The retaliation timeline is the heart of the case. Graff says she went to HR on May 1, 2024, to report that Douglas was holding her to a higher standard because of her age. Wawa did not investigate, the complaint states. Six days later, Douglas issued her a Coaching - which Graff says was unfounded - followed by a Final Written Warning on November 4, 2024.
According to the filing, HR itself acknowledged that Wawa had deviated from its own policies: the warning was delivered verbally, never documented, and never entered into Workday as company policy required. HR told Graff there was "really nothing they could do," the complaint states.
Graff submitted a formal written complaint of discrimination and retaliation on November 22, 2024. On January 10, 2025, the company informed her the internal investigation had closed with no evidence to substantiate her claims. The filing alleges Wawa never explained how it reached that conclusion, who was interviewed, or what the findings were.
On February 11, 2025, Wawa terminated Graff, telling her only that her behavior was not improving. The complaint says no examples, dates, or specifics were offered. No one else was let go that day, and Graff alleges her responsibilities were reassigned to substantially younger and non-complaining employees. She says Wawa offered her a severance agreement that would have required her to release her discrimination and retaliation claims.
The allegations have not been tested in court. Wawa has not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled on the claims.
