Age Discrimination Harder to Prove

Mark Ellis — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:30:03 +0000

If you have been considering an age discrimination lawsuit against your employer, things just got a whole lot tougher thanks to a new Supreme Court ruling. The case, which was decided by a 5-4 ruling, states that employers will not have to prove that they did not commit age discrimination.

It all started when 53-year-old Jack Gross sued his employer, FBL Financial Services Inc. in Iowa, over what he perceived as age discrimination. He claimed that he had been demoted because of his age and that his job was taken by a younger female worker, which led him to bring a lawsuit against the company based on federal age discrimination laws.

The original court decided that the employer had to prove that it did not age discriminate, but then a federal appeals court overturned the decision. When the Supreme Court intervened, it sided with the employer and placed the burden of proof of age discrimination on the employee. The case represents a significant victory for employers who have been accused of age discrimination.

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Post from: EveryJoe

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Age Discrimination Harder to Prove