Lincoln University officials could begin presenting their case today, the second day of former Jefferson City councilman Kenneth Ferguson's age discrimination lawsuit.
Ferguson sued in April 2013, about eight months after his position as LU's government relations director was terminated by Lincoln administrators. He was given right to sue by both the state Human Rights Commission and the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Now 63, Ferguson was 61 and a 35-year LU veteran when Lincoln let him go.
His four-page lawsuit said Lincoln "discharged Ferguson from employment because of his age," then "assigned his duties to a younger person of lesser qualification, or restructured a number of administrative duties so as to eliminate older workers and the positions held by older workers."
But Kent Brown, Lincoln's attorney, told the jury Monday afternoon that there was no age discrimination - that Ferguson's position was ended by budget constraints.
Curtis Creagh, a former LU vice president for administration, acknowledged sending then-LU President Carolyn Mahoney an email in April 2012 saying: "I had two positions that were pending resolution: Tamala Norfus and Ken Ferguson.
"Tamala is not yet eligible to retire; I want to keep this position until she is.
"Ken Ferguson is eligible to retire; I can give up this position and associated departmental expenses, if necessary."
Creagh then told Ferguson's attorney, Michael Berry: "I wanted to make sure that we had explored all of our options and had given ample thought about how we were going to meet budget shortages."
Creagh left LU at the end of 2013 and said he has two cases pending against the school.
He testified Monday that job cuts were considered as part of dealing with tight finances for several years.
"Because we had already cut a lot of non-personnel costs," he said, "we were in 2012 forced to look more at what could we do with jobs that still had people in them, and not just cut positions that were vacant."
Chief Financial Officer Sandra Koetting was the controller in 2012, and testified Monday that LU officials began 2012 with state officials predicting a 12.5 percent reduction in state resources to all state-owned and operated colleges and universities for the 2012-13 school year.
Even after the Legislature's budget writers cut the reductions to only 7.5 or 8 percent - finally trimmed by only 1 percent - Koetting said: "We did not add anything back into the budget."
Ultimately, she testified, only two people were let go - Ferguson and Norfus, who worked in human resources.
Creagh and Human Resources Director James Marcantonio both testified Norfus had told them a couple years before her departure that she wanted to work until she was eligible to retire.
Norfus' retirement came under Missouri government's "80-and-out" policy, where an employee can continue working or choose to receive retirement benefits after working for the state long enough that their age and years of service add up to 80.
But Ferguson testified he had planned to work until he was at least 66 - the federal retirement age.
Because he was forced to retire early, he said, he had to start taking Social Security benefits at 62 - when monthly benefits are smaller than if you wait until 66 or 70.
Berry hired Jefferson City accountant James Seaver to analyze Ferguson's income before and after his dismissal.
Ferguson had been making $63,000 a year and got a bump to $65,000 on just six weeks before his dismissal - and lost $195,984.38 income and benefits because of his termination, Seaver testified.
Add in the reduced Social Security income because he started benefits at age 62, and the total loss is $321,036.23, Seaver said.
Mahoney and current LU President Kevin Rome sat at the defense table, but didn't testify Monday.