Mr. Flannery worked for RIAA as an investigator in RIAA's Oak Brook, Illinois office. In 1997, Mr. Flannery was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat, and, in August of 2000, he was diagnosed with sleep apnea. In his amended complaint, he maintains that, in a March 2000 meeting, his supervisors told him that he would have to leave his employment because his health was bad and he was getting older. Mr. Flannery responded by telling his supervisors he did not want to leave. At that point, they told him that they would keep him on and see how things went.
Mr. Flannery further contends that, on June 14, 2001, he was told he would be terminated effective October 1, 2001. On the same day, he received a letter from RIAA's vice-president, Frank Walters, explaining the terms of his termination. Mr. Walters' letter set forth three benefits that Mr. Flannery would receive as a result of his departure from RIAA: (1) severance pay; (2) the possibility of continued health benefits; and (3) continued work in a consulting capacity with RIAA. As to the third, the letter explained that Mr. Flannery could expect that his services would be utilized in several different RIAA offices and result in approximately twenty hours of billable work per week. An August 20, 2001 e-mail from Frank Creighton, another RIAA official, to Mr. Flannery stated that he should regard the June 14, 2001 letter as “official notice” of his “current and future status with RIAA.” Am. Compl., Ex.B.
Consistent with the June 14, 2001 letter, Mr. Flannery's employment at RIAA ended on October 1, 2001. At the time of his departure, he had worked for RIAA for twenty-two years and was sixty-three years old. Mr. Flannery filed his first charge of discrimination with the EEOC on October 22, 2001. He was never contacted regarding the consulting work promised in the June 14, 2001 letter.