Massachusetts Lawyer Blog

Age Discrimination

A Supreme Court decision extends federal workers' rights in filing age-bias suits by a vote of (6-3). A U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston's ruling (upholding a lower court's dismissal) was overturned. The ruling allows federal employees retaliated against (because of their discrimination complaints) to pursue lawsuits under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Prior to this case, it was argued the ADEA only applied to private sector workers. This case establishes it applies to federal employees as well.

Racial Discrimination

Also, in a vote (7-2), the Supreme Court ruled a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (known as known as section 1981) covers claims of retaliation following complaints about discrimination based on race. The dissents in both these cases were Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas. While Chief Justice John Roberts dissented in only in the age bias case, he was with the majority in the racial discrimination case.

With rights expanding, the question becomes how do you prove discrimination. This led to interest in the "me too" evidence case. However, for now no new answers emerge form the Court on this issue.

Me Too Evidence

George Lenard, reports on his blog, George's Employment Blawg, in detail about the issue of "me too" evidence in discrimination cases:

In its recent unanimous decision in Sprint v. Mendelsohn, the Supreme Court largely avoided the tough issue before it: admissibility of “me-too” evidence in discrimination cases — testimony of other employees who believed they too had been discriminated against.

Genetic Information Discrimination On May 21, 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA) protecting people from discrimination based on genetic material. GINA becomes effective November 21, 2009. A general "primer" on GINA is covered at the Genetic Genealogist.

All and all, May has been a discriminating month...