The Los Angeles Rams LLC have settled a lawsuit filed by a 64-year-old former equipment assistant who alleged he was demoted and later terminated because he spoke out about a hostile work environment in which a boss repeatedly chided him because of his age.
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Attorneys for Adam "Merg" Mirghanbari's filed court papers on Thursday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bradley S. Phillips notifying him of the accord. No terms were divulged.
The allegations in the suit filed in August 2024 included age discrimination and harassment, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination, harassment and retaliation and various state Labor Code violations. But in previous court papers, Rams lawyers urged dismissal of the plaintiff's case and cited multiple defenses to Mirghanbari's allegations. The attorneys further contended that the plaintiff's request for punitive damages was unconstitutional and should have been barred along with his bid for attorneys' fees.
The Rams "had no actual or constructive notice of any of the alleged conduct contained in the complaint and took appropriate action in response when claims were reported," the NFL team's attorneys stated in their court papers.
Mirghanbari saw his first Rams game in 1966 at age 3, when the team was originally based in Los Angeles. He became a full-time employee of the team in 2011 after the organization moved to St. Louis and he remained with the organization when it returned to Los Angeles five years later.
Mirghanbari's job duties as an equipment assistant included upkeep of protective equipment, assisting coaches with drills as well as maintenance checks of practice and field equipment.
Mirghanbari was dedicated to his job and the success of the team and was well-respected by coach Sean McVay and McVay's staff, the suit stated. But during the plaintiff's employment, he was not permitted to record all of his employment hours and was expected to work off-the-clock, according to the suit.
Mirghanbari was required to work from home during the pandemic and was told that due to budget constrains, he could not be paid for all of his hours worked or for missed meal and rest breaks, the suit alleged.
In addition to the pay issues, the team's equipment director, Brendan Burger, made offensive comments about Mirghanbari's age, referring to him as "old" and "old man," or "OG" for "old guy," the suit stated.
Mirghanbari was demoted to a part-time position as equipment intern in July 2020 and was not paid for the time spent doing mandatory team coronavirus testing, according to the suit, which further stated that during preseason practice, the equipment director said Mirghanbari was the only employee the Rams needed to worry about acquiring the coronavirus because of his age.
The disparate comments about the plaintiff's age continued during the 2021 NFL season, when Burger allegedly said Mirghanbari was an "old man mascot" and "old as dirt," and the equipment director even made a snide remark after McVay gave the plaintiff a game ball in owner Stan Kroenke's presence after a December 2021 victory over the Arizona Cardinals, the suit stated.
Mirghanbari was terminated in February 2023 in a meeting with team management, whose members told him the team was going in a "different direction," according to the suit, which the plaintiff believes was the Rams' excuse for his complaints about discrimination and retaliation.
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