Justices Find No Age Bias in Benefits Case
Court says firms can't be sued if they adopt plans that favor older workers over younger ones.
By David G. Savage
Times Staff Writer

February 25, 2004

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected claims of reverse bias in the area of age discrimination, ruling that employers could not be sued for adopting benefit plans that favored older workers over younger ones.

Age "means 'old age' when teamed with 'discrimination' " in the employment laws, the high court said in a 6-3 decision. It threw out a lawsuit brought by workers in their 40s who sued after a division of General Dynamics Corp. decided that only employees who were then over age 50 would be promised health benefits in their retirement.

Tuesday's ruling, which maintains widespread employment practices, was seen as an important victory for corporate America. Employers feared the prospect of being sued by middle-aged workers if they offered buyouts or other retirement incentives to older workers, an increasingly common occurrence.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee "because of an individual's age." Congress said it was intended to protect older workers from being pushed aside or denied opportunities because of their age.

But the wording of the law applied to all employees over age 40, and it could be read to forbid discrimination against middle-aged workers as well as their elders. Two years ago, a federal appeals court in Ohio set off alarms among corporate lawyers when it ruled in this case that the law prohibited all age discrimination among employees, even when younger workers were complaining about preferences for their older colleagues.

Employment law experts said this was the first successful "reverse discrimination" claim in the area of age bias.

But it did not stand for long. The Supreme Court took up the employer's appeal and ruled that the law was indeed intended to protect older workers, and not the younger ones who complained about advantages given to their elders. The law "does not mean to stop an employer from favoring an older employee over a young one," said Justice David H. Souter in General Dynamics Land Systems Inc. vs. Cline.