How is age discrimination in the workplace defined by the courts?
Latham: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. Under the ADEA, it’s unlawful to discriminate against a person because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments and training. In 2005, the Supreme Court broadened the interpretation to include cases in which there is no evidence of intentional discrimination, but there is evidence of disparate impact of a policy or practice. Using this legal standard, workers need to show only that older workers were disproportionately affected by their employer’s decision. In the recent Gross v. FBL Financial Services decision, the Supreme Court made it more difficult for ADEA plaintiffs to prove their cases. Although it is a fairly technical holding regarding burdens of proof in “mixed motive” cases, the court held that ADEA pl
