A federal judge in Washington state ruled in favor of Elevance Health in a case involving a former executive who was accused of violating a relationship policy and was terminated, according to an Oct. 3 order granting a motion for summary judgment.
Cornelius Healy was an associate vice president and roughly 60 years old in 2022. During his time at Elevance, Mr. Healy made sexual advances toward an indirect subordinate, the document said. During a deposition following his termination, Mr. Healy claimed he was fired as a cost-saving measure and that there were rumors of Elevance discriminating based on age.
He also claimed emotional distress, failure to pay for accrued vacation time and interference with accessing his stock options.
“While Mr. Healy subjectively feels termination was an unwarranted response to his actions, this is irrelevant,” the court document continued. “Per company policy, Mr. Healy engaged in misconduct warranting termination, and thus he fails to demonstrate he performed satisfactory work,” a necessary prerequisite in an age discrimination case.
Mr. Healy abandoned his claim that Elevance did not cover his vacation time. The court document also said Mr. Healy did not present “a genuine dispute of fact as to whether Elevance Health unlawfully terminated his unexercised stock options.”
