Age Law

Why Age Discrimination Lawsuits Will Explode in the Future – Part 1

The Supreme Court of The United States recently issued a ruling on age discrimination that is both shocking and sobering; one that may be a harbinger of legal issues to come. This white paper explicates key reasons your human resources personnel and supervisors must be on top of the age discrimination law (ADEA).

The Shocking New Ruling

Pay very close attention to this. In The Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power case (June, 2008) the Supreme Court ruled (in order to establish its freedom from unlawful bias) an employer must not only produce evidence of, but also bear the burden of proving, a “reasonable factor other than age” for its employment policy or action which has a disparate impact on workers over the age of 40.

In other words, when an employee (over the age of 40) files a lawsuit against the organization claiming they were discriminated against because of their age, the burden to prove there was no discrimination squarely lies with the employer, not the employee. The employer will be forced to open their records on (1) hiring, (2) firing, (3) promotions, (4) job assignments, (5) training, and (6) even test papers.

What Attorneys Are Looking For

Employee law attorneys will painstakingly comb these records looking to see if (and how) your employment practices had an adverse impact on workers over the age of 40. The burden to prove no discrimination becomes and uphill battle if any of these records show supervisors treated this “protected class” of workers differently than others.

For example, if the employer has a disparate amount of workers over the age of 40 fired (or let go) over a set period of time, this may be a red flag to the court. When the worker files the lawsuit, you will have to explain to the court why this group of employees was affected disproportion ally. One of the key points we have learned in our supervisor core training is inconsistencies are a death nail for any organization.

The Coming Explosion

I have written a series of articles dealing with knowledge management and the workforce of the future. One take away from these articles is the American workforce is aging rapidly. By the year 2012 (when the oldest baby boomers begin to retire), nearly 70% of the American workforce will be over the age of 40. This is a massive number of workers. As a performance technologist, I stress to organizations that now is the time to study how this literal sea change will affect your organization. Under ADEA (the Age Discrimination in Employee Act), workers over the age of 40 is a protected class. With so many workers moving into this protected status- I predict an explosion in age discrimination lawsuits. If for no other reasons than this gigantic number of workers moving into protected status; coupled with a smarter/savvier workforce understanding their rights under the age law.

Summary

When an employee (over the age of 40) files a lawsuit against an organization claiming they were discriminated against because of their age, the burden to prove there was no discrimination squarely lies with the employer, not the employee. Now is the time to make sure your HR personnel and supervisors are up to speed on the age law.

Dr. Cubie Davis King, PhD. is an adjunct professor at National University San Diego, CA in the School of Business, where he teaches Training and Development. His latest work is the Supervisor Core Training System 1.0 (SCTS 1.0). To get more information on this highly effective and engaging training system go directly to his website at website http://www.goldcrowninc.com

Dr. King is a Performance Technologist with a Ph.D in Training & Performance Improvement. His resume includes 9 years military service, and 12 years executive positions with Xerox & CitiGroup. For the past 13 years he has consulted with hundreds of companies on employment laws, and trained thousands of HR professionals in Live Seminars throughout the country. Dr. King has won top performance awards at every level of his storied career and is passionate about improving the performance of employees and business owners. Dr. King takes complicated yet sobering employment laws and makes them palatable and entertaining for everyone on your staff to understand.

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