Court narrows age bias cases

WASHINGTON, June 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court, in a case that will echo in workplaces, ruled 5-4 Thursday the burden in an age bias case is on the employee, not the employer.

In a case out of the U.S. appeals court in St. Louis, Jack Gross filed suit against FBL Financial Services when he was reassigned in 2003 at age 53. Most of his duties were transferred to a new position filled by a woman in her 40s.

Gross, considering the reassignment a demotion, filed suit under the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which bans adverse actions against an employee because of age.

At trial, the judge told the jury they must find for Gross if age was a motivating factor in the demotion, but must find for FBL if the company would have demoted Gross regardless of age.

The jury found for Gross, awarding him nearly $47,000.

But the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the verdict in an opinion in which key swing vote Justice Anthony Kennedy joined the court's four-member conservative bloc.

The majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas said a plaintiff making a claim under the age bias law must prove he would not have suffered the adverse action "but for" age, and the burden does not shift to an employer to prove it would have taken the action regardless of age, even if age was one motivating factor.

(Gross vs. FBL, No. 08-441)