(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Court of Appeals says an age discrimination case brought by a fired Swift Pork Company employee should be heard. Sixty-year-old David Feeback was fired from the Marshalltown Swift plant where he had worked for more than two decades after sending a text to his supervisor using an expletive. Feeback sued, alleging age discrimination, workplace harassment, and wrongful termination. The district court dismissed all three claims.

The Appeals Court says Feeback’s observations that nine people over the age of 50 left the company before retiring is “competent evidence even if it is not the strongest evidence” of possible age discrimination. And says a jury could find this evidence persuasive on his discrimination claim.