In March 2009, plaintiff Rafael Guajardo, 45, an El Salvadorian lead installer for Federighi Design Inc., a small business that designs and installs kitchens for high-end restaurants, was injured on the job. He subsequently went out on workers’ compensation, during which the company hired a younger employee. On Oct. 13, 2009, after having returned to work, Guajardo was terminated from his position. Guajardo claimed that the company was discriminating against him based on his race, age and disability, resulting in his wrongful termination. Guajardo sued Federighi Design for age, race and disability discrimination. Guajardo claimed that a workplace injury in March 2009 rendered him “damaged goods,” and that the company chose to let him go so that it could keep a younger, uninjured employee, who was hired while he was on a workers’ compensation leave of absence and who made it clear that he “did not take orders from a Hispanic.” Guajardo’s coworkers testified that the younger employee made racist comments, including that he did not take orders from a Hispanic. The coworkers also testified that the type of “bullying behavior,” of which Federighi Design accused Guajardo of having, was everyday behavior at the workplace. Thus, Guajardo claimed that firing him for this behavior was a pretext for discrimination. Federighi Design denied Guajardo’s allegations and claimed it terminated Guajardo after 23 years of employment because his bullying behavior caused a coworker to resign. Plaintiff’s counsel noted that a variety of claims of wrongdoing against Guajardo were barred by motions in limine because they admittedly had nothing to do with the reasons for Guajardo’s termination. However, according to plaintiff’s counsel, Federighi Design’s counsel put this information into evidence on a number of occasions anyhow. Plaintiff’s counsel also noted that they requested a jury instruction on Guajardo’s race discrimination claim, in that they wanted the court to instruct the jury that accommodating the racial preferences of a coworker constituted race discrimination, but the court refused to give the jury that instruction., Guajardo worked for the company for 23 years. Thus, he sought recovery of approximately $1 million for his past and future loss of wages, and for emotional distress damages.