Opinion ID: 2772155
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Al Stakelin

Text: In August 2011, Stakelin was fifty-four years old and worked for DS2 as an NC Machine Operator II in the Machine Shop. Stakelin applied for a position as an NC Machine Operator II in Sean Wallace’s and Robbie Adams’s areas, as well as for a position as an Aircraft Mechanic I in Damon Evans’s area on Aviation Hill. Neither Adams nor Wallace interviewed Stakelin for the NC Machine Operator II position because his skills assessment score was lower than those of the other applicants. They also noted Stakelin lacked “versatility” on the various machines in the shop. Adams, the Machine Shop supervisor since June 2006, had seen Stakelin operate only one of the shop’s machines. Of the DS2 employees hired from the Machine Shop, one, Don Coffey, was sixty-four at the time – ten years older than Stakelin. Lockheed also hired individuals for the NC Machine Operator II position who were more than six years younger than Stakelin. Just as with the NC Machine Operator II position, Evans declined to interview Stakelin for the Aircraft Mechanic I position because of his low skills assessment score in comparison with the other applicants. Stakelin, having worked only as an NC Machine Operator II in the Machine Shop, had no experience as an Aircraft Mechanic or in another, similar position. Of the individuals hired as Aircraft Mechanic I’s, five were older or not more than six years younger than Stakelin, including Albert DeRonda (sixty-seven), Douglas King (fifty-one), Brett Rease (fifty-one), Derek Martin (fifty), and Kenneth Martin (forty-nine). Finally, Stakelin stated that no one at Lockheed ever made any comments that caused him to believe that Lockheed was biased against older workers or that age played a role in its hiring -4- decisions. He felt Lockheed’s hiring process was, however, unfair because it allowed the company to hire workers whom it liked personally, rather than hiring only the most skilled individuals.