Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Labor and Employment Law
Reasonable Factors Other Than Age: The Emerging Specter Of Ageist Stereotypes, Judith J. Johnson
Reasonable Factors Other Than Age: The Emerging Specter Of Ageist Stereotypes, Judith J. Johnson
Journal Articles
In spite of two recent Supreme Court cases that ostensibly reinstated a more expansive interpretation of discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the protection that the ADEA affords still faces the same danger that threatened it before these decisions. The courts, including the Supreme Court, have been allowing employers to interpose defenses that correlate so strongly with age that they can be used as thinly veiled covers for discrimination. If the Court is serious about enforcing the purpose of the ADEA, it must interpret the “reasonable factor other than age” (RFOA) defense to protect older employees from …
Rehabilitate The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: Resuscitate The “Reasonable Factors Other Than Age” Defense And The Disparate Impact Theory, Judith J. Johnson
Rehabilitate The Age Discrimination In Employment Act: Resuscitate The “Reasonable Factors Other Than Age” Defense And The Disparate Impact Theory, Judith J. Johnson
Journal Articles
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) promised to protect older workers from discriminatory exclusion from the workforce, but recent studies show that older workers are being cut from the workforce and are unable to find employment. In a 1995 article, I warned of the potential dangers of construing the ADEA to allow employment decisions based on age-correlated criteria. Most courts have failed to heed these warnings and now approve employer practices, such as terminating employees based on higher salaries and refusing to hire workers with too much experience. These practices may explain the difficulty older workers are having retaining …