"Mixed Motive" Age Discrimination Bill Reintroduced

Employment Law

A bipartisan bill has been reintroduced in the Senate that would make it easier for workers to sue for age discrimination.  The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (S. 2180), sponsored by Sens. Mark Kirk (R-IL) and Bob Casey (D-PA), would reverse a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc.) in which the justices held that a worker suing under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act must show that "but for" the discrimination, the employment decision would not have occurred.  The bill would enable plaintiffs to prevail by simply showing that the unlawful bias was a "motivating factor" behind the decision and it would also ensure that workers can use both circumstantial and direct evidence to prove their cases.  The bill's changes would also extend beyond older workers as well by extending the mixed motive framework to race and gender discrimination allegations under the Civil Rights Act.  Sen. Kirk said: "Every American should be free from discrimination of any kind."  The bill has been introduced in every session of Congress since the Gross ruling but no action has been taken thus far.