Feldman v. Nassau County

**What Happened** A worker sued Nassau County claiming age discrimination and retaliation. The employee alleged that the county treated them unfairly because of their age and then punished them for complaining about discrimination. **What the Court Decided** The court dismissed the entire case in favor of Nassau County. For the age discrimination claim, the court found that a special exception in federal law protects law enforcement employers from these types of lawsuits. For the retaliation claim, the court ruled that the worker failed to provide enough evidence showing that Nassau County knew about their previous complaints or was motivated to retaliate because of those complaints. **Why This Matters for Workers** This case highlights two important limitations workers should understand. First, employees in law enforcement may have fewer protections against age discrimination than workers in other fields due to special legal exceptions. Second, to win a retaliation case, workers must be able to prove not only that they complained about discrimination, but also that their employer was aware of their complaints and took negative action specifically because of those complaints. Simply showing that bad things happened after complaining may not be enough evidence to win.