GROSS V. FBL FINANCIAL SERVICES, INC.: SUPREME COURT RADICALLY CHANGES THE GROUND RULES FOR PROVING ADEA CLAIMS

In June, 2009, the US Supreme Court issued a controversial 5-4 decision involving the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which prohibits an employer from taking an adverse employment action against an employee "because of such individual's age." Gross v. FLB Financial Services Inc was a mixed-motives disparate treatment case, in which both discriminatory and legitimate factors allegedly accounted for FBL's decision to demote a 54-year-old employee. Speaking for the five conservative Justices, Justice Clarence Thomas rejected the argument that the analytical formula that applies in mixed-motives cases brought under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act also applies in ADEA cases. Details of the case are presented.