Weekly retirement questions and a request to train his replacement anchor the technician’s case
A 67-year-old chemical technician says Agilent fired him over a heated exchange to hide years of race and age discrimination.
A former chemical technician is suing Agilent Technologies, arguing the company used a single workplace argument as cover to force out an older Black employee after years of unequal treatment.
The complaint, filed September 3, 2026 in federal court in Delaware, accuses Agilent of race and age discrimination under federal and Delaware law, including Title VII and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. He was 67 when he lost his job.
He joined the plant in 2010 as a contractor and was hired on directly as a chemical technician in 2012, earning steady reviews, raises, and bonuses, according to the filing. Even so, he says he waited about two years for a direct-hire offer while white contractors were typically brought on within six to twelve months. He alleges he was turned down for training classes that younger colleagues got, and that a manager dismissed his process ideas - including a pitch to use a machine to mix a chemical - leaving him to stir the product by hand for years.
The age claims sharpen in late 2023. In December of that year, the complaint says, a plant manager began asking him retirement questions week after week, including “Do you have plans to retire?” and “You’re collecting Social Security now, aren’t you?” He says he was told to train a younger replacement. When he said in January 2024 that he wasn’t ready to retire and needed his benefits, he alleges the manager stopped speaking to him.
The trigger for his firing came in September 2024. A chemical spill led to an argument over whether to save material in a mixing tank, and, according to the filing, a manager got in his face and yelled words to the effect of “I’m in charge here,” spitting as he shouted. The manager then said words to the effect of “You’re not helping the situation. Why don’t you leave?” The worker says he swore at the manager as he walked off.
Agilent put him on leave the next day and ended his employment about two weeks later. A termination memo cited a “violation of Agilent Technologies’ Misconduct policy,” saying he “made obscene hand gestures, used profanity, and a loud tone of voice that was perceived as threatening.” The complaint calls that reason a pretext - a cover, it says, for discrimination and retaliation.
For HR leaders, the filing reads like a catalog of the signals that can turn a firing into a discrimination case: retirement questions aimed at an older worker, a directive to train a younger replacement, and discipline handed down after a confrontation that involved more than one person. The worker also alleges he was one of three Black technicians on a ten-person team reporting to an all-white management chain.
He filed complaints with the Delaware Department of Labor and the EEOC in July 2025 and received right-to-sue notices this year. He is asking for his job back or pay in its place, along with back pay, damages, and attorney’s fees.
The allegations have not been tested, and no court has ruled.
