Victory for Employers in Age Discrimination Case

Tuesday, 23 June 2009 16:15

Harassment & Discrimination

Last week, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, No. 08-441 (June 18, 2009), a case brought by Jack Gross a 54-year-old man that claimed he was demoted because of his age when he was transferred to a new position and some of his duties were assigned to a younger female employee in a newly created position.  Gross received the same compensation in the new position as he did in his former position.  Gross sued under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the federal law prohibiting discrimination against employees age 40 and older.

The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff bringing an age discrimination claim must prove by a preponderance of the evidence, that age was the "but for" cause of a demotion or other adverse employment action and age cannot be "simply a motivation factor" when alleging age discrimination. The burden of persuasion does not shift to the employer to show that it would have taken action regardless of age, even if the plaintiff has produced some evidence that age was one of the motivation factors in the decision.

COUNSEL TO MANAGEMENT:

This ruling will have a positive impact on employers by making it more difficult for employees to win age-discrimination claims.  Employees must meet a tougher standard under the ADEA to be successful on their claims of age discrimination.  This will limit the number of federal age discrimination claims an employer will be forced to defend.  However, employers should continue to follow its policies and procedures to ensure that employment decisions are based on nondiscriminatory reasons. 

The goal of this article is to provide employers with current labor and employment law information. The contents should not be interpreted or construed as legal advice or opinion. For individual responses to questions or concerns regarding any given situation, the reader should consult with The Saqui Law Group at (831) 443-7100 in Salinas