Employment discrimination; Age discrimination; MCL 37.2202(1)(a); McDonnell Douglas Corp v Green; Prima facie case; Qualification for position; Town v MI Bell Tel Co; Pretext; Bullard-Plawecki Employee Right to Know Act; Personnel file; MCL 423.503 & 423.504; Michigan Department of Insurance & Licensing Services (DIFS)

The court held that the trial court properly granted defendant-employer summary disposition on plaintiff’s age-discrimination and Bullard-Plawecki Act claims. Plaintiff, an insurance producer born in 1952, was terminated after DIFS suspended his insurance license because he failed to complete required continuing-education credits. On appeal, the court first held that plaintiff could not establish a prima facie age-discrimination claim because “there was no genuine issue of material fact that plaintiff was unqualified for his insurance producer position.” Although plaintiff could continue servicing existing policies during the statutory grace period, “he could not ‘solicit or sell’ new policies[,]” and his own testimony showed that his “main job” was to obtain new business and manage it. The court next held that even if plaintiff had met his prima facie burden, defendant offered a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for termination because his license was suspended, and he failed to show pretext. His handbook warned that “[f]ailure to maintain a license” could result in termination, and plaintiff offered no evidence that his age was “a motivating factor” rather than that the timing near his 70th birthday was merely coincidental. Finally, the court held that plaintiff’s Bullard-Plawecki Act claim failed because there was no evidence he first requested to review his personnel file in person before asking for a copy, or that he was unable to review it at the employer’s location. The court also rejected his claimed prejudice from delayed production because the Act allows an employee to review “their own employment record, not other employees’ employment records,” and plaintiff did not identify anything missing from his own file. Affirmed.