A 55 year-old supervisor at a private company, who has always received good performance appraisals, is nevertheless fired. Two younger supervisors (37 and 42 years old, respectively) from the same department and whose performance appraisals have been lower than the 55 year old's, were nonetheless retained by the company. The employer says that it had to save money and that the older supervisor earned considerably more money than the younger supervisors, which he did. If the termination is legally challenged, a court would most likely decide:

a. For the employer because employee could not establish a prime facie case of age discrimination under the ADEA. b. For the employer because one of the employers retained was also over 40 years of age. c. For the employer because it had a lawful, non-discriminatory motive for the termination. d. For the employer because the employer had engaged in disparate treatment based on age.