Supreme Court Asked To Hear If The ADEA Protects Job Applicants

Supreme Court Asked To Hear If The ADEA Protects Job Applicants

| May 1, 2019 | Workplace Discrimination |


“The 7th Circuit’s decision is devastating to older job seekers,” said a spokesman for the AARP Foundation. “It misreads the letter of the law and seriously undercuts its main purpose: to ensure that older, unemployed job applicants are treated fairly.”


The Seventh Circuit held that the company had done nothing wrong by limiting its hiring to younger, less experienced applicants because, the court claimed, the ADEA doesn’t allow external job candidates to bring disparate impact claims of discrimination. A disparate impact claim, in essence, argues that a facially neutral policy or practice has the effect of discriminating against a protected group.

What does the ADEA say about hiring?

The ADEA reads, in part, as follows:

“It shall be unlawful for an employer-



Age discrimination is widespread


Unfortunately, it can be hard to find a “smoking gun” when it comes to age discrimination. Often, a showing that certain policies or practices disparately impact workers 40 and older will point strongly in the direction of discrimination.

Should job applicants be allowed to complain if they can prove they weren’t hired based on policy that had a disparate impact against older people?