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Jury Finds Woman Fired Because Of Age, Awards Her $1.27M

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A jury awarded $1.27 million to a woman who claimed she was harassed because of her age while working for a Glendale company that packaged compact discs and DVDs for the entertainment industry.

A Los Angeles Superior Court jury deliberated for less than a day before finding in favor of 62-year-old Judee Welch on Tuesday and against her former employer, which was then known as Ivy Hill Corp.

The jury also found that the company harassed Welch because of her age and breached an implied agreement to fire her only for good cause, her lawyer, Carney R. Shegerian said. The jury also found the firm acted with malice, but did not award any punitive damages, Shegerian said.

Welch worked for the company from March 1987 to March 2009 as an account executive. She claims she was forced out because she was 61 and her bosses wanted younger people to handle their accounts.

The company maintained that Welch was let go because of a workforce reduction after the firm was sold to Multi Packaging Solutions.

(©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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