The St. Louis Rams fired long-time equipment manager Todd Hewitt in January, after the season ended. Hewitt wasn't the first Rams staffer to be fired by the organization, but his firing raised eyebrows given that he had been with the organization for more than three decades, replacing his father. It set off a small whirlwind of controversy, helped along by the Post-Dispatch.
Now, Hewitt is filing age discrimination charges against the Rams for his firing. According to Hewitt, he was supposed to receive severance pay from the Rams, which he has yet to receive. He filed the charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Knowing how regime changes work, it seems like actual age discrimination might be a stretch. New coaches bring in their own people to fill out their staff. Coaches are by nature control freaks, and Spagnuolo is by all accounts that. Nevertheless, setting your own staff doesn't make it any more acceptable to fire an employee of three decades plus to "go in a different direction" without offering some sort of severance and maybe even a better explanation.
Legal drama aside, Hewitt's lengthy tenure with the Rams has seen some history. In this interview, Hewitt and his father talk at length about their time with the Rams. It's a really cool interview, that even gets into where the team's color schemes came from, so check it out.
Here's the video from KSDK.