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Article: ADEA prevention, not panic: disparate impact claims, now allowed by the Supreme Court, will have important--but manageable--effects on HR.(Employment Law)(Age Discrimination in Employment Act)(human resource)
- Article from:
- HRMagazine
- Article date:
- September 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Society for Human Resource Management. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court answered a question regarding the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) that had been in dispute among federal courts for years: Can employees bring an ADEA claim challenging an employer's neutral practice that has a disproportionately negative impact on persons age 40 and above?
The answer from the high court was a definitive "yes."
The ruling means that workers are now able to sue--anywhere in the country--on the theory that their employer's actions caused unintentional age discrimination, otherwise known as disparate impact.
But the high court also ruled that employers can overcome such suits by ...