Widmar, 51, was fired after Sun accused him of poor job performance arising out of several problems that occurred in a manufacturing plant that he managed. Widmar claimed he was blamed for failures that were not within his control. For example, some problems were due to a flawed chemical formula and Sun’s use of cheap, faulty materials.
While Widmar presented evidence that others within plant were responsible for those problems, Sun explained that it expected plant managers must accept responsibility over all aspects of a plant – even those outside the manager’s control. The Seventh Circuit held that Widmar failed to provide evidence that Sun's job expectation with respect to appropriate role of plant manager was pretext for age discrimination. “Even if Roberts blamed Widmar for problems that he knew were not Widmar’s fault, this makes Roberts a bad manager, not a perpetrator of illegal discrimination.” Widmar further failed to show that Sun Chemical treated younger, similarly-situated managers more leniently.