Graybar discrimination case settled just before trial

WHEELING –- Joseph Veltri and his former employers at Graybar Electric settled his discrimination suit 13 days before trial would have begun.

On Sept. 1, U.S. District Judge Frederick Stamp wrote that matters in controversy had been compromised and settled.

Stamp had ordered mediation in August after setting trial for Sept. 14.

Veltri, 51, of New Cumberland, lost his job in counter sales at Graybar's Wheeling branch last year.

He sued in Ohio County, alleging Graybar retained less qualified and younger persons.

His lawyer, Michael Nogay of Weirton, wrote that he worked 28 years for Graybar and would have qualified for a bigger pension in two years.

Nogay classified Veltri as handicapped under West Virginia human rights law, with an arthritic knee, poor circulation in the legs, and a weight of 330 pounds.

He wrote that the human rights law protected Veltri on account of his age.

Graybar removed the suit to federal court and answered that it let Veltri go due to a 40 percent drop in counter sales.