Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 26, 1994                   TAG: 9401260398
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SUIT AGAINST ARSENAL CLAIMS DISCRIMINATION

Isaac Huff, 61, of Max Meadows, says he was told he was being laid off because he was 59 years old at the time and would be eligible to accept early retirement in January 1993.

Huff, who had worked for the arsenal since 1961, says his job as a scheduling supervisor was filled by a younger, less-qualified individual.

He is suing for $600,000, according to a lawsuit filed last week in U.S. District Court in Roanoke.

Huff began using a pacemaker in 1987, and he contends that influenced the decision to terminate his employment. He is suing for an additional $500,000 because he claims that Hercules violated the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 in laying him off.

RAAP officials had no comment.

Deborah Dobbins, a Pulaski lawyer representing Huff, says the financial sums take into account the money and benefits that Huff would have earned for another decade.

``You have to think about the wages he would've earned, the benefits he would have accrued ... really until age 70,'' Dobbins said.

There is no mandatory retirement age at the arsenal, according to Nicole Kinser, public affairs officer.

Huff took early retirement after losing his job, Dobbins said. He ``financially did not have a choice.''

Dobbins said Huff filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last year, and Hercules responded to it. Because of confidentiality laws, neither she, nor the EEOC, would comment on the commission's action.

She said it could be one to two years before the case goes to court.