Posted on 03/30/2005 10:42:10 AM PST by Crackingham
Workers 40 or older can sue their employers for practices that favor younger workers even if there was no intentional bias, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday in an important age discrimination case.
The decision upheld the reach of the 1967 federal law that bars discrimination based on age and covers an estimated 75 million workers 40 or older, who account for about half the U.S. civilian labor force.
By a 5-3 vote, the justices ruled the law did cover policies that have a "disparate impact" on older workers, even if the employer was not motivated by intentional discrimination.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote in the main opinion that a federal appeals court was wrong to hold that such claims never could be brought under the law.
Business groups had warned they could face expensive lawsuits in arguing for a narrow interpretation of the age bias law while AARP, the advocacy group for those 50 or older, had supported allowing workers to sue for such claims.
"This is a major boost for the fight to eliminate age discrimination in the workplace," said Laurie McCann, a senior attorney for AARP, in calling the high court's decision "enormously significant."
Just wait till they see what kind of expensive lawsuits they encounter if the gay activists ever succeed at getting "sexual orientation" anti-discrimination laws in place.
...at 34 I'm considered "older"? I'm only SIX years away from being a "protected class"? *sigh* Where have all the years gone?
Don't feel so bad, you will soon qualify for senior's discounts!
We might as well do away with the Executive and Legislative branches of government. The Judiciary interprets, makes, and enforces the laws with impunity.
I can smell the golden parachutes now.
So if I have this right, it doesn't matter that a company didn't intend discrimination...people can still sue over discrimination? Wha?
Believe it or not, Scalia agrees with this decision but O'Connon does not.
O'Connon = O'Connor
Don't worry, you can't be fired because of your age.
BUT, you CAN be "removed from your misery", in a painless, beautiful manner. Just head for Florida. . .
I know a number of older, competent people, who would were FAR below the "golden parachute" level, who have been "engineered" out of the work place (by those WITH "golden parachutes") primarily because they were compensated at a higher rate than a younger replacement would be.
Is that fair? That's debatable, but that's business...and no one on the receiving end of that equation likes it.
Read the opinions of the Court. This is out of control judicial activism. The court ruled that the specific case, brought by some older police officers, had no validity. But it ruled that, in general, you did not have to prove intent to be biased. The 9 mullahs should only have said whether the case was valid or not. Instead, they went beyond that to make up a new law.
COOL! Now, back to our regularly scheduled FReeping ...
Congress can amend the statute to require proof of deliberate intent, i.e. change the result of the case. Whether it will have the political courage to do so is an entirely separate question. Don't bet the ranch.
I'm filing a race-based class action against the NBA. Their hiring policies obvious have a "disparate impact" on white guys who can't jump.
Suppose that you worked in an office for, say, a company that wanted to project a youthful image, so all the "older" workers were sequestered in the back of the building, where visitors wouldn't see them.
But the company doesn't MEAN to discriminate!
So when promotion and raise time comes around, who does the boss think of first?
The ones he sees first?
Does this sound fair to you? If so, I think there's probably a nice Mid Eastern country where you'd be every happy.
THAT will be their next decision!!!
Boy I can't wait!!!/s
They will reinstitute the Dred Scott ruling and apply it retroactively.
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