United States Supreme Court and Age Discrimination

Trying to catch up from my hiatus with this new report from workforce.com on the latestADEA case from the United States Supreme Court:

Supreme Court Puts Age Bias Burden of Proof on Plaintiff

In a 5-4 ruling Thursday, June 18, the court held that in an age bias case, an employee has to prove that age was the only reason he or she was fired, demoted or suffered some other work setback.

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, called the decision an “overreaching by a narrow majority” that would hurt older employees.

Leahy’s reaction may signal that Congress will act to overturn the decision, as it did recently in a pay discrimination case.

The Supreme Court held that under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, age cannot be one of many factors that led to an adverse employment action.