Stop Age Discrimination
The same five conservative Supreme Court justices who ruled against Lily Ledbetter in her sex discrimination case later went on to rule against Jack Gross in his age discrimination case.
Previous to Gross v. FBL Financial Services, if an employee could prove that age was a factor in a demotion or layoff, then it was was the employer's responsibility to show that it had valid reasons other than age discrimination. After the Court's ruling, however, it's the worker who has the full burden of proving that age was the deciding factor. This is a very high hurdle and often difficult to prove.
And the timing of this decision couldn't be worse -- in the midst of a severe recession, with layoffs falling hard on older workers. Since the recession began, unemployment for 55-and-over workers has jumped 143 percent.
Everyone who wants to work should be able to and no one deserves to be judged by their age or any other factor that does not relate to their productivity.
Congress passed a law to correct the injustice to women done by the Ledbetter case. Now it needs to do the same for the Gross case. Help stop age discrimination -- act now.
I urge you to pass legislation that would reverse the age discrimination inherent in the Supreme Court's Gross v. FBL Financial Services decision.
Previous to Gross decision, if an employee could prove that age was a factor in a demotion or layoff, then it was was the employer's responsibility to show that it had valid reasons other than age discrimination. After the Court's ruling, however, it's the worker who has the full burden of proving that age was the deciding factor. This is a very high hurdle and often difficult to prove.
And the timing of this decision couldn't be worse -- in the midst of a severe recession, with layoffs falling hard on older workers. Since the recession began, unemployment for 55-and-over workers has jumped 143 percent.
Everyone who wants to work should be able to and no one deserves to be judged by their age or any other factor that does not relate to their productivity.
[Your comments]
Congress passed a law to correct the injustice to women done by the Supreme Court's decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear. Now it needs to do the same for the Gross case. Please pass legislation to stop this age discrimination.
