Courts have long acknowledged the validity of reverse discrimination cases when gender or race is concerned. But the validity of a reverse age bias claim has been less clear. In particular, could a worker in the over-40 protected class bring an age discrimination lawsuit if an older employee was favored at work? According to a new Supreme Court decision, the answer is no.
Retirement Plan Favors Older Employees
General Dynamics Land Systems is a Michigan-based military defense contractor. A 1997 collective bargaining agreement allowed the company to cut back on its retirement benefits so that only workers age 50 or over as of July 1, 1997, would be eligible for full health benefits when they retired.
Dennis Cline and a group of nearly 200 General Dynamics workers who were over age 40 but younger than 50 sued. They argued that because the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects all workers over age 40 from age bias, a plan that favored older workers over others who were over 40 was an illegal form of reverse age discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and a federal appeal court agreed with Cline.
High Court Limits ADEA’s Reach
The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has reversed the appeal court’s ruling. The high court said the ADEA’s purpose is to protect “a relatively old worker from discrimination that works to the advantage of the relatively young.” If Congress had been concerned about protecting younger workers from acts that benefited older workers, said the court, it would have included under-40 workers in the ADEA’s protections. Thus, the court found General Dynamics didn’t violate the ADEA by refusing to provide equivalent benefits for workers in the age 40 to 50 category as it did for workers older than 50.
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Employer Decisions Face Fewer Challenges
The new ruling means employers may adopt policies that favor older workers such as retirement benefit plans, early retirement packages, or other perks. Reserving certain benefits for your oldest workers rather than providing them for everyone over age 40 may allow your organization to cut costs.
Keep in mind, however, that the court’s decision only pertains to the federal ADEA. It’s unclear for now whether California courts would similarly construe the state’s age bias law to permit such reverse age discrimination.