NYT: A US Supreme Court Victory for Older Workers

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/washington/20scotus.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&ref=us&adxnnlx=1213963607-2+y0+DT6lcqCDgJSdk84ng&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

By LINDA GREENHOUSE
Published: June 20, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled for older workers Thursday in a closely watched age discrimination case, placing on employers the burden of proving that a layoff or other action that hurts older workers more than others was based not on age but on some other “reasonable factor.”

The 7-to-1 decision overturned a ruling by the federal appeals court in New York, which said employees had the burden of disproving an employer’s defense of reasonableness.

The case was brought by 28 employees who lost their jobs during cutbacks at a federal research laboratory in upstate New York. All but one of the employees who were laid off were at least 40, the age at which protections begin under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

The issue in the case, while technical, is important for the litigation of age discrimination cases in which an employer’s action or policy that appears neutral on its face has a disparate impact on older workers. David Certner, the chief legislative counsel for AARP, praised the decision and said it would prove “vital to the creation and maintenance of a workplace that is fair and free of age bias.”

From a broader perspective, this decision, coming near the end of the Supreme Court’s term, completed a five-for-five sweep for employees’ rights in workplace discrimination cases that was little short of astonishing, given how far the court had appeared to be tilting toward business under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. By comfortable margins, the court interpreted federal antidiscrimination statutes broadly to enable employees to overcome procedural hurdles and to pursue a category of claims not fully detailed in the statutes themselves.

Business lawyers, while pointing to victories in other parts of their agenda, were quick to acknowledge that the court’s apparent turnabout in the employment area was a big surprise.

FULL story at link.