The Best is Yet to Be?

Grow old along with me!
 The best is yet to be,
 The last of life, for which the first was made.
– ROBERT BROWNING

An AARP national survey points to the existence of  a climate of fear among older workers of seemingly  pervasive and unchecked age discrimination in America.

The AARP survey finds that 64 percent of older American voters think workers over the age of 50 face age discrimination in the workplace and 34 percent report that they or someone they know has experienced age discrimination in the workplace.  Meanwhile, older workers face increased pressure to work longer than ever before as a result of dwindling savings and disappearing pensions.

In addition, the AARP reports roughly 8 in 10 older American voters say:

  •  It is important for Congress to take action and restore workplace protections against age discrimination (81%).
  •  Across party and ideological lines, they support the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) (78%).

Age discrimination has flourished since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that workers who assert they are discriminated against because of their age have a higher burden of proof than workers who  are discriminated because of their race, sex, national origin, religion, etc. (see Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc., 129 S.Ct. 2343, 2351 (2009))

The proposed POWADA would restore the previous legal rules and protections that existed before the 2009 decision.

POWADA was introduced in March by  Iowa Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).  Harkin is Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee while Leahy and Grassley are the Chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The AARP notes the unemployment rate for older workers has soared in recent years, and once out of work, older jobseekers experience far longer spells of unemployment – well over a year, on average – than their younger counterparts.   The AARP says age discrimination is one of the significant reasons why it takes so much longer for older jobseekers to become reemployed.

The Supreme Court decision requires age discrimination victims to show that  “but for” age discrimination they would not have suffered an adverse employment action.  In other words, they must prove that age was the decisive factor in how they were treated.

 Prior to the ruling, age discrimination victims, like other discrimination victims, were required to show only that discrimination was a factor behind how they were treated.  The employer then was required to show that discrimination was not a factor.

The number of age discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has more than doubled in the past decade, to a total of 23,465 in 2011.

Here are some other findings in the AARP survey:

  • Seventy-seven percent of respondents are concerned that their age would be an obstacle  to finding work if they had to find a new job in the current economic climate;  56% say they are “very concerned.”
  • Ninety-one percent agree that older Americans should be protected from age discrimination just as they are protected from other forms of discrimination, including a 73 percent supermajority of respondents who strongly agree.

The AARP (a.k.a. the massive insurance company) describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to themand society as a whole.

Older Workers Vulnerable to Age Discrimination

daggerThe U.S. Supreme Court stuck a dagger in the heart of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act a few years ago in its decision, Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., 129 S. Ct. 2343 (2009).

Prior to Gross, the same standard of proof applied equally to all workers who faced illegal discrimination on the job. The Court in Gross established a far higher standard of proof for plaintiffs in age discrimination cases than exists for plaintiffs in cases alleging discrimination based on race, sex, national origin and religion.  This has left older workers more vulnerable to age discrimination.

A bi-partisan bill was introduced in the U.S. Senate in March to rectify this wrong. Under the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act , if a victim can show that age discrimination was a “motivating factor” behind a decision, the burden shifts to the employer to show it complied with the law. The bill is co-sponsored by Iowa Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

After Gross, older workers who filed age discrimination cases were required to prove that age discrimination was the “but for” cause of their termination (i.e., “but for” age discrimination, they would not have been demoted or fired.)

Alternatively, employers could point to any other “legitimate non-discriminatory” reason for firing the Plaintiff to avoid liability.  (“Sure we thought the old fogey was an over-paid dinosaur but he failed to follow company procedure when he called in sick one day so he’s gotta go!”)

Under the proposed bill, it wouldn’t matter if the employer had more than one motivating factor – if one of those motivating factors was age discrimination, the employer could be held liable.

The  Court reasoned backwards in Gross.  The Court said that Congress amended Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to permit mixed-motive claims in discrimination claims involving race, color, religion, sex and national origin. So the fact that Congress failed to amend the ADEA to permit mixed-motive claims meant that Congress intended to disallow mixed -motive claims.  The Court threw out decades of precedent that treated age discrimination like every other invidious form of discrimination and left countless older workers without real protection against age discrimination.

The Gross decision has also had reverberations in a wide range of civil cases in addition to age discrimination, including discrimination based on disability.

Harkin is Chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee while Leahy and Grassley are the Chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Judiciary Committee.