When Raiders General Manager Reggie McKenzie came on the job in 2012, he fired a pair of veteran scouts who had spent decades working for the team.
The two scouts, Jon Kingdon and Bruce Kebric, responded to their terminations by filing a lawsuit alleging they were being discriminated against because of their age. They were asking for $3 million in damages, but an Alameda County, California jury sided with the Raiders on Wednesday.
The jury voted 12-0 in favor of the Raiders, who argued that McKenzie chose people he knew, trusted and thought were better suited for the job than the ousted Kingdon and Kebric.
“We appreciate the jury quickly and unanimously rejecting these claims and confirming that the Raiders’ employment decisions were lawful and not discriminatory in any way,” the Raiders said in a statement, via InsideBayArea.com. “The Raiders are proud of our long history of equal opportunity employment without regard for race, gender, age, religion, or any other improper characteristic.”
An attorney for Kingdon and Kebric did not respond to a request for comment about the ruling.