WASHINGTON – Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced the Protecting Older Workers from Age Discrimination (POWADA) Act to level the playing field for older workers and protect Americans from age discrimination in the workplace.  

“Americans of all ages can offer valuable contributions to our society and economy, including older Americans. They deserve to be protected from workplace discrimination like other Americans. The Supreme Court’s decision involving Iowan Jack Gross impacted employment discrimination litigation across the nation, sending a wrong message to employers that age discrimination is okay. It’s long past time for us to clarify the intent of Congress so Americans don’t face job discrimination due to age,” Grassley said. 

“Every Wisconsin worker deserves to feel respected and protected in the workplace. We need to ensure this is true for older workers, so they have equal footing and are treated with the dignity they deserve,” Baldwin said.  

Background:

In 2004, Jack Gross of Des Moines sued FBL Financial Group, where he had been working as a vice president, citing age discrimination. Despite superior annual reviews for 13 consecutive years, Gross was demoted when the company announced staffing changes. According to Gross, his replacement lacked breadth of experience and skills for the job. While Gross found success in lower courts, the Supreme Court in 2009 ruled in Gross v. FBL Financial Services that workers who face age discrimination must meet a higher burden of proof than workers who face discrimination based on other characteristics like race, sex, national origin or religion. 

For decades, a worker only needed to prove discrimination was a factor in an adverse employment decision to make an age discrimination claim. In this case, the court decided a worker needs to prove age was the deciding factor in that decision. This significantly weakened the protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and telegraphed to employers: some age discrimination is perfectly fine. 

A survey conducted by AARP in 2018 found more than three in five workers ages 45 and above reported seeing or experiencing age discrimination in the workplace. The survey also found three quarters of these workers cited age discrimination as a reason for their lack of confidence in being able to find a new job.  

POWADA would amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the retaliation provision in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to level the playing field for older workers. The bill would restore the pre-Gross standard, once again recognizing the legitimacy of so-called “mixed-motive” claims in which discrimination is a — if not the — deciding factor. It would also reaffirm workers may use any type of admissible evidence to prove their claims. 

A summary of the bill can be found HERE. 

Full text of this legislation can be found HERE.

 

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