Sup Ct To Decide Availability Of Retaliation Action For Federal Employees Under ADEA
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to
address whether the federal-sector provision of the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits retaliation against employees who complain of
age discrimination.
In holding that the provision of the ADEA extending
to federal employees the Act's prohibition against age discrimination did not
create a cause of action for retaliation by federal employers, the First Circuit
Court of Appeals looked first to the statute's plain language. The provision in
question mandates that "all personnel actions affecting employees or applicants
for employment who are at least 40 years of age" in specified departments and
agencies of the federal government "shall be made free from any discrimination
based on age." This text clearly prohibits discrimination against federal
employees over 40 years old based on age, the Court of Appeals found, but says
nothing that indicates that Congress meant for this provision to provide a cause
of action for retaliation for filing an age-discrimination related complaint.
Given the clear difference between a cause of action for discrimination and a
cause of action for retaliation, the court concluded that if Congress had meant
to provide for both causes of action, it would have said so explicitly.
Gomez-Perez v. Potter