Age Discrimination Claims Suffer Court Defeat, Congress Fights Back

In June of 2009, age discrimination victims suffered a major setback in the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 5 to 4 decision, the nation’s high court ruled in Jack Gross v. FBL Financial that workers needed to meet a higher burden of proof to show age discrimination. Direct evidence of discrimination was no longer enough. Now, according to the majority opinion, an employee has to prove that discrimination was the deciding factor. With the fastest growing segment of our population being older Americans, this decision has wide reaching implications.

A group of lawmakers introduced legislation on October 6th to overturn the Supreme Court’s opinion and restore what they claim was the original intent of age discrimination laws.

EEOC’s counsel, Jean Kemp, said, “In the ADEA, Congress guaranteed those older workers that so long as they are performing, they cannot be put on the street merely because of their age.”

Jack Gross sued his employer FBL Financial after he was demoted and a younger worker was given his job

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