Jury awards $4.5 million to former Grinnell hospital worker in age discrimination suit

The award to Gregory Hawkins followed a 10-day trial against his former employer of almost four decades, the Grinnell Regional Medical Center, a private nonprofit hospital that serves residents across six central Iowa counties. Hawkins contended in an age discrimination and retaliation lawsuit that he was fired from the hospital in June 2015 while in remission from breast cancer, then replaced by a new lab director more than 10 years younger than him.