ROCKLAND, Maine — A 71-year-old man claims in a lawsuit that he was fired from his car salesman job because of his age.
The lawsuit on behalf of Joseph Castelluci was filed last week in Knox County Superior Court against Shepard Chrysler Dodge Jeep, a car dealership on Route 1 in Thomaston.
Castelluci claims in the lawsuit that his manager would make derogatory comments about older people to him in front of the other employees. Those comments included that “once people reach 75 years old, they should be killed” and “this would solve a lot of problems,” according to the lawsuit. He also claimed the supervisor asked if he had Viagra.
Castelluci had worked at the dealership from February 2002 until he was let go in June 2014. He claims that before he was fired, the business hired a 20-year-old man who was given Castelluci’s office.
He claims that despite being out for a month because of a medical problem in 2013, he sold 66 vehicles and had the highest gross per vehicle of any salesman at the company. Gross is the sale price above the cost to the dealership. He said in April 2014, he also had the highest gross per vehicle.
The lawsuit states that Castelluci “may have dozed off at work” because of medicine he was taking but that “he did not sleep on the job.” His attorney, Andrews Campbell, said the medicine made him drowsy, but that he only nodded off a couple times and only when there were no customers. He said other salesman did the same thing.
Castelluci filed a complaint with the Maine Human Rights Commission last year. He requested a right to sue letter on Jan. 21, and the commission issued it on Feb. 20. A right to sue letter can be requested by a complainant if the commission takes no action on a discrimination complaint within 180 days.
In the lawsuit, he claims he was humiliated by the company’s action. He is seeking compensation for the loss of the job, which he said earned him $40,000 per year.
A Shepard Chrysler Dodge Jeep spokesman referred questions to the dealership’s attorney, Frederick Finberg.
A message was left Wednesday afternoon with Finberg but was not immediately returned.