4235 Legal Regulation Of Wages: Age Discrimination In Employment Act

摘要

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits discrimination against workers who are over 40 years of age. The law not only covers intentional discrimination (disparate treatment), it also protects against unintentional discrimination (disparate impact), according to the U.S. Supreme Court (.05). This means that older workers can bring claims under the ADEA when apparently neutral employment practices have a discriminatory effect, unless the differentiation is based on reasonable factors other than age.rnThe scope of disparate impact theory is narrower under the ADEA than under Title VII because-unlike race and other Title VII protected categories-age often is relevant to a person's ability to perform certain jobs. Therefore, in some situations, employment practices could still be deemed reasonable, despite having an adverse impact on older workers as a group.rnAn employer defending a disparate impact claim under the ADEA bears both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion for the "reasonable factors other than age" affirmative defense, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (.10). In other words, the employer must not only produce evidence raising the defense, but must also persuade the factfinder of its merit.