Rx for Discrimination
http://badbossofthemonth.com/2015/10/rx-for-discrimination/
With a Backdated Firing, This Bad Boss Hit a New Low in Age Bias
Cody Berguson had laid the groundwork — he was ready to fire James King.
But Mr. King was unavailable: The 65-year-old pharmacist was caring for his wife, Trudy, who was hospitalized for surgery.
Mr. Berguson, a pharmacy supervisor for health giant CVS, waited a few days. Then he called in Mr. King and, in a two-minute meeting, terminated him.
The kicker: Mr. Berguson backdated the termination to before Trudy King’s surgery, which meant that CVS-supplied insurance no longer covered her hospitalization. The Kings had to pay their medical bills with credit cards.
Cody Berguson is our latest “Bad Boss of the Month.”
Earlier this year, a federal jury found CVS liable for age discrimination and awarded Mr. King more than $1 million in damages — then doubled it by finding that CVS “willfully” violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, for a final award of more than $2.1 million.
CVS is fighting the verdict.
At the time of his firing, Mr. King had worked at the CVS Pharmacy in Pell City, Ala., for more than seven years. Although he was 65, he had no intention of retiring: “I wanted to work until I died,” he said at trial, joking that his wife “didn’t want me around the house.”
In reality Mr. King enjoyed working and needed to pay for the education of his daughter, who was still in high school and planned to go to college.
Mr. Berguson, however, seemed to have a different plan.
Soon after Mr. King’s 65th birthday, the CVS supervisor started what Judge Virginia Emerson Hopkins characterized as a “retirement-related inquisition,” repeatedly asking Mr. King pointed questions like “Don’t you have enough money to buy an annuity and retire?”
Mr. Berguson also began what Mr. King called “a constant barrage of unjustified and petty criticisms,” writing up the pharmacist for sins including a “bad attitude.”
Before long, Mr. Berguson and another regional official called Mr. King into a meeting and told the pharmacist he was under investigation for allowing other employees to use his “manager card” for voiding transactions, among other things.
They also faulted him for taking too many smoke breaks — they had reviewed an entire day’s video and tracked his smoking to the minute — and for failing to properly document his purchase of two Diet Pepsis.
According to Mr. King, Mr. Berguson called him a “thief,” a “liar,” and “lazy” — and topped off the encounter by asking, “Now, what about retirement?”
Fearing the worst, Mr. King complained to Mr. Berguson’s boss and also called a company hotline to say he felt like a victim of age discrimination. But CVS did nothing — and things escalated.
One day when Mr. King was not working, a younger pharmacist filled a narcotic drug prescription via the store’s drive-through lane. It was for the wife of a local judge but, based on later investigation, was picked up by an unauthorized person.
A few days later, the irate judge — a longtime customer well-known to CVS staff — arrived at the pharmacy to get his wife’s pain medication. Seeking to make things right, Mr. King gave him replacement pills without forcing the judge to contact a doctor first.
In a prior incident of this type, CVS had sorted out details later. This time, however, Mr. Berguson told Mr. King he had violated state law and suspended the pharmacist without pay. CVS referred the incident to the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy — and reported it to local police.
A stunned Mr. King gave a statement to the pharmacy board investigator; he was told he’d be called for a hearing if the matter went any further. Neither the board nor the police ultimately took any action against him; Mr. King remains a pharmacist in good standing.
In the meantime, however, Mr. Berguson had sent an e-mail to CVS officials: “Considering … this latest issue, one month after meeting with him about the Pepsi issue … I would think it’s time to relieve Jim of his duties as an employee of CVS no matter what the state board decides to do with him.”
CVS approved the termination without waiting for further facts, and Mr. Berguson tried to implement it immediately — only to find Mr. King tending to his hospitalized wife.
As jurors heard, it wasn’t the first case of age discrimination involving Mr. Berguson. That’s “not coincidental,” Mr. King’s lawyers said: Under direction from CVS to hire a quota of newly-minted pharmacists, the supervisor had to create slots for cheaper, younger new hires across a 23-store territory from Auburn to Birmingham.
In a 2013 jury trial against CVS, veteran pharmacist Roger Harris won $800,000 on similar claims of Mr. Berguson’s prejudice.
Like Mr. King, Mr. Harris had been subjected to ageist heckling by Mr. Berguson; like Mr. King, he had received multiple write-ups over the six months before being fired; like Mr. King, he was terminated at age 65.
There was no sick wife in the case, but Mr. Harris suffered his own cruel flourish: Mr. Berguson fired him on his 65th birthday.
Filed under: General Problems
Update. We collected our checks from CVS this week. The entire judgement attorneys fees and all was over 3 million. CVS lost at trial and then appealed. Then they lost appeal. Then had problems with appeal. They finally ran out of options but for over 6 years delayed at every point. Cody finally lost his supervisor job and last I heard he was working still with cvs as phaarmacist part time in store and also floating. There are many cases against cvs in our area alone plus surrounding states. All I can say about all this now is……KARMA
As an update to this case Jim king got his checks this week from cvs. Entire judgement attorneys fees and all was over 3 million. We won at trial and cvs appealed. We won the appeal and cvs had problems with appeal. we won at every turn and cvs delayed at every turn. But finally had to pay up at the end. Cody does not have his supervisor job anymore and last I heard was working as pharmacist part time for cvs and also floating. Many other suits against cvs in our area alone. All I can say about our case. …. KARMA
I’ve had a bad run in with this guy. I actually have a recording where cody apologies for harassment in a previous phone conversation. The recording also catches cody in a lie and he states that I wasn’t going to be fired for a particular reason. He later fired me for the same reason that he told me I wasn’t going to be fired for. He only said that to force me to write a statement which I wasn’t comfortable writing. I stressed the importance of my job because of my bills and my school situation. When I lost that job I lost residency and am now paying 27k a year for college. I’ve been the best employee for cvs and I always went beyond my normal duties as a good employee should do. I’ve even had letters written to cooperate complimenting my customer service. My pharmacist in charge didn’t want to fire me but only did so because of cody. I can help out with this case if you’d like me to. I can be reached at my email and I will be more than willing to send the recording. This guy has to be stopped. This isn’t his first, second, or third run in with employees. When is enough enough?
Are you referring to the 7 day overtime lawsuit in California?
Does anyone have any updates on the other lawsuits in the North and South Carolina as well as PA and California and I believe NJ?
I hope more press picks this up, but I’m not seeing it in my research.
This case was tried in a different county from the location of the CVS where the pharmacist worked. A jury of citizens heard days of oral testimony and reviewed all written documentation. If CVS had anything written indicating performance problems, they would have presented it in court. They did not. All performance reviews PRIOR to Mr. King’s 65th birthday were satisfactory. Another pharmacist was fired by CVS ON his 65th birthday! CVS wanted to replace experienced employees with years of service and expertise who had moved up the salary scale so they could hire cheaper recent pharmacy graduates. The CVS bottom line, not their employees or customers, drove this despicable behavior. This is not a corporation I would trust with my healthcare.
You work for cvs, so your comment is invalid. On top of that, you overlook cody in the chain of command. So try again. I have your cell phone number if you’d like me to put you on blast online to prove that I am telling the truth. This guy has ruined my life…don’t defend him.
Nothing surprises me when it comes to CVS. If a person files a claim against this company, the litigation will drag on for years. The claimant will be lucky to live long enough to see any resolution.
Older pharmacists bear the brunt of the reprimands when the metrics are not met. Due to staffing restrictions pharmacists are required to perform ALL functions: typing, filling, verifying, cashiering, calling insurance companies and physicians and patients. Of course, most of this is timed and tracked. Woe to those who cannot keep up.
A frequent tactic to weed out older pharmacists is to reduce working hours (so they must scramble for hours to keep benefits) or transfer them to other stores or to the float pool.
CVS does not have one iota of concern for any employee. Their only responsibility is to the stockholders. If you believe otherwise, you are naive and delusional.
cvs company wide also condone racial discrimination . I know, this happened to me personally and a lot of others. Why people work for cvs, I don’t know.
In my experience with the corporate world in general, this is an old tactic and I’ve watched it happen also. When they want to get rid of you, they can do all kinds of things. But when it involved the lives of patients, it’s affecting more than just one person.
This is really happening as I have experienced this myself. They know that it is hard to prove age discrimination & they will do things to set the older pharmacist up. They have gone so far as to tell technicians to purposely fill prescriptions wrong while working with the pharmacist they are targeting. CVS has absolutely no morals!
How can you be so sure that one side is the only side. There is a financial benefit here and anytime money and lawyers are involved it is never ONE sided. DO YOU BELEIVE EVERYTHING YOU READ IN THE NEWSPAPERS? Sounds like you do. Not sure but come on, one side only?be real. Unless you are a tape recorder and a video combined there is always more than one side.COMMON SENSE no rocket science here.
What you don’t know is that they are a horrible company to work for
There’s no third side to the story and unless you’ve been there you’d never understand
Yes it’s that bad
I worked under Mr Berguson for several years and he was the best boss I ever had….. Yes there is always more than one side of the story!!!
Someone might have asked you to make this comment? He might have been the best boss to you, but that has nothing to do with the facts of these cases.
I am curious where and when you worked with him.? I know lots of people who have worked under him at cvs and Winn-Dixie and have never run into even one person who ever had anything good to say about him. He’s an obnoxious and power hungry person but that’s only the opinion of most of the people that work with him. He’s also a liar and that was proven in two court cases under oath
I agree it sounds really bad but I had 4 offices that I managed and there are always three sides to every story. If Mr king was a great employee then I agree this is horrible but what don’t we know?
I can tell you that until right before Jim King turned 65 he had never been written up for a complaint and had always received excellent evaluations. Age discrimination is very very hard to prove in a court of law. Only a very small percentage of age discrimination complaints even make it to court. Must admit I am probably biased asi am the wife. Lol