Lifeguard, 61, Fired After Rejecting Speedo

It’s a swim suit: A 61-year-old lifeguard is taking New York state to court over his bathing trunks. Roy Lester says he was fired for refusing to don a Speedo for a yearly swim test, the New York Daily News reports. He preferred to wear a less revealing bathing suit. “I wore a Speedo when I was in my 20s," he says. "But come on. There should be a law prohibiting anyone over the age of 50 from wearing a Speedo."

He argues that the Long Island beach where he worked was using the rule to shed its older lifeguards—though 80% of them are over 40, he estimates. “They were just trying to get rid of the older guys. To me the whole key to being a good lifeguard is experience. An older guy sees a save before anyone else. You know the water." Indeed, “I could have passed that test”—a 100-yard swim in less than 75 seconds—“in dungarees.” (Click to see a photo of Lester in non-Speedo trunks.)