Is my mom's manager discriminating against her? again?

Where is the discrimmination? Are you clear on the definition? Are you thinking that she's being passed over for job opportunities because she's in her 50s? If so, and she can support this claim, she should indeed speak with an attorney.

If she is not permitted to put her elbows on the counter and she in fact put her elbow on the counter, then her getting in trouble for it is not harassment. Even when off the clock, most companies have guidelines for how an employee can act and violating such rules can certainly put an employee at risk for termination. If the Regional Manager made such a big deal out of this, then it may be a big deal. However, a manager worth anything would not take a 10 year employee with excellent skills and terminate them over an elbow on the counter.

I assume that when you refer to your dad being sick and your mom "filing all specified documents", you are trying to refer to FMLA. http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.pdf is an outline of FMLA and if the company is covered under FMLA and she filed everything properly, then what they did was illegal and she should consult an attorney.

It sounds like her time with this company may be up, so she may need to start looking for work with another company. She should start gathering letters of recommendation from her customers and vendors and asking them if she can use them as a reference should she change jobs.

It sounds like her manager is an idiot and it is mostlikely either discrimination or horrible management.. I had a similar problem with a manager at a retail store who ave me a hard time constantly when all I was dong was serving the customers well and doing my job the way I was trained. This lady ended up almost getting killed chasing a shoplifter and became permanently disabled after being hit by the shoplifter's get away car..

Does her company have an open door policy? She may want to go over her manager's head. Also, the whole termination thing sounds fishy as well, She may want to talk to a lawyer about that. After all the years she has put into the company, to be treated like that is downright wrong. She probably needs to do some more research. At her age and with her level of experience, she may consider applying for a management possition at another store.

This wouldn't be discrimination or harassment. Have your mom keep notes on everything that she feels unfair with specific dates & times; after about a month she can bring this to another manager, if it seems unfair treatment. There should also be a number she could call if she feels that harassment is going on (it's anonymous and the manager can be investigated); usually if it's a Corporation they have the number posted in the break room. Did your mom file for FMLA when she was taking care of your dad? Depending on how long she was with the company and her hours, she could have filed for FMLA & kept her position.

Discrimination, no. Harassment, no. She just works for a jerk.