Supreme Court Rules on Age Discrimination

Source: Workforce.com

Older workers may now have an easier time proving that layoffs disproportionately affect them following a Supreme Court decision handed down on Thursday, June 19.

In the recent age discrimination decision, the court held, 7-1, that a company must show the criteria it used when reducing its workforce did not involve the age of employees.

The case centered on a federal research center that implemented layoffs in 1996. The organization told supervisors to consider three factors when determining which workers to cut: performance, flexibility, and critical skills.

Of the 31 employees who lost their jobs, 30 were older than 40 years of age. More than two dozen of them filed a lawsuit under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. After the case bounced around the judicial system, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the workers failed to demonstrate that the ranking system was unfair.

But the Supreme Court opinion places the burden of proof on the employer to show that its layoff decision was based on factors other than age.

In writing for the majority, Justice David Souter said that traditionally the party claiming an exemption—in this example, the company is trying to avoid running afoul of the age discrimination statute—must prove its case.

“That longstanding convention is part of the backdrop against which the Congress writes laws, and we respect it unless we have compelling reasons to think that Congress meant to put the burden of persuasion on the other side,” Souter wrote.

Employers will no longer be able simply to list the factors in a layoff decision. They have to convince a jury that age was not the motivation.

The adverse impact in the case above is a perfect example of how important it is to have backup data and documentation as to why employment decisions were made.

Berkshire’s BALANCEact adverse impact calculator is a necessity for employers who want an easy, yet effective way of preventing adverse impact.  BALANCEact was designed to give organizations the advantage of running adverse impact analyses right from the Web. To find out more about protecting your company, please contact Berkshire Associates Inc. at 800.882.8904 or email bai@berkshireassociates.com.