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Law360 (October 9, 2020, 4:08 PM EDT ) A veteran contestant-wrangler for the TV game show "Jeopardy!" has sued Sony Pictures Entertainment in California state court for age discrimination, saying he was replaced by a younger worker when the show came back to film during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Glenn Kagan, 66, who worked at "Jeopardy!" for over half his life, brought the lawsuit under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act against Sony and Quadra Productions, also alleging wrongful termination and failure to pay overtime.
Kagan said the company gradually ushered in a much younger contestant coordinator who ultimately replaced him after producers falsely accused him of improper mask-wearing on the job, though he maintained he wore one at work despite a dearth of COVID-19 protocols.
He was fired in August "despite 34 years of employment, with no prior warnings, write-ups or reprimands, for failing to properly wear a mask, despite not having been provided with protocols or instructions for masks or even being provided with personal protective equipment. Plaintiff is informed and believes, and based thereon alleges, that he was replaced with a younger employee," said the suit, filed Wednesday.
Kagan's job as senior contestant coordinator entailed taking the trivia show's contestants to the green room and helping with rehearsals by "standing in" for host Alex Trebek, as well as communicating with contestants and handling their paperwork.
In 2016, the company promoted a contestant coordinator in his 20s who "gradually" took over Kagan's duties, including the stand-in work on stage, the lawsuit said, even though the show had raised no performance issues with Kagan, he said.
The takeover came to a head in July, after the show returned to set for its 37th season after several months of remote work during the pandemic, Kagan alleged.
Though employees were told the show had hired a "COVID Captain" and that they would be provided with personal protective equipment upon their return, Kagan alleged they were ultimately given no guidance, no rules and no masks. He brought his own mask from home, he said.
At 66, Kagan was at "high risk" for complications from COVID-19, he said in the lawsuit, but was still instructed to escort a group of over 20 contestants to receive diagnostic tests for the virus on the Sony lot.
Trebek, the show's 80-year-old host, has stage 4 pancreatic cancer.
At one point, Kagan admitted, his mask "inadvertently slipped" as he was talking to a contestant, and he pulled it back up. On another occasion he pulled it down to speak to a security guard who couldn't hear him, he said.
But the following day he was called to a video meeting with two "Jeopardy!" producers and a human resources representative and reprimanded for "failing to wear a mask," he said. He pointed out that the company hadn't provided PPE or guidance and was subsequently suspended, according to the lawsuit. While he was out, the younger coordinator took over his job, he added, and he was fired a few weeks later.
Kagan also alleged that he frequently worked more than 40 hours a week but never received overtime pay, and he accused the company of giving him inaccurate wage statements.
"The health and well-being of our employees, our talent and our partners is of paramount importance as we work to get productions up and running. We have many protocols in place to provide a safe workplace. We require employees to comply with these protocols and if they fail to do so, we take appropriate action as necessary," said a spokesperson for Sony Pictures Entertainment in an email Friday.
Counsel for Kagan and media representatives for Quadra did not immediately return requests for comment Friday. It was not immediately clear who would represent the defendants in the case.
Kagan is represented by Mika Hilaire of the Equal Rights Law Group and Barry M. Appell and Scott E. Shapiro of Appell Shapiro LLP.
Counsel information for defendants was not immediately available.
The case is Kagan v. Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. et al., case number 20STCV38553, in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
--Editing by Haylee Pearl.
Update: This story has been updated to add comment from Sony Pictures Entertainment.
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