In October 1995, plaintiff Roger Reeves was 57 years old and had devoted 40 years in the employ of the respondent, Sanderson Plumbing Products, Inc., a manufacturer of toilet seats and covers. Plaintiff labored in a department known as the “Hinge Room,” where he would direct the “regular line.” Mr. Reeves tasks were to “recording the attendance and hours of those under his supervision, and reviewing a weekly report that listed the hours worked by each employee.” Earlier in the year of 1995, Russell Caldwell, the manager of the Hinge Room, 45 years old, and supervised both Roger Reeves and Joe Oswalt, (Joe Oswalt, who is in his mid-thirties, supervised the Hinge Room’s special line.) notified Powe Chesnut, “the director of manufacturing and
