NOTE: Where it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being
done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued.  The
syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared
by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader.  See United
                                                                     ______
States v. Detroit Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
______    ___________________

                       SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

                                    Syllabus

                        HAZEN PAPER CO. ET AL. v. BIGGINS
                                              ____

     CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT

         No. 91-1600.   Argued January 13, 1993 - Decided April 20, 1993

Petitioners fired respondent Biggins when he was 62 years old and apparently a
 few weeks short of the years of service he needed for his pension to vest.  In
 his ensuing lawsuit, a jury found, inter alia, a willful violation of the Age
                                    ___________
 Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), which gave rise to liquidated
 damages.  The District Court granted petitioners' motion for judgment
 notwithstanding the verdict on the ``willfulness'' finding, but the Court of
 Appeals reversed, giving considerable emphasis to evidence of pension
 interference in upholding ADEA liability and finding that petitioners' conduct
 was willful because, under the standard of Trans World Airlines, Inc. v.
                                            __________________________
 Thurston, 469 U. S. 111, 128, they knew or showed reckless disregard for the
 _________
 matter of whether their conduct contravened the ADEA.

Held:  
_____
   1.  An employer does not violate the ADEA by interfering with an older
 employee's pension benefits that would have vested by virtue of the employee's
 years of service.  In a disparate treatment case, liability depends on whether
 the protected trait - under the ADEA, age - actually motivated the employer's
 decision.  When that decision is wholly motivated by factors other than age,
 the problem that prompted the ADEA's passage - inaccurate and stigmatizing
 stereotypes about older workers' productivity and competence - disappears. 
 Thus, it would be incorrect to say that a decision based on years of service -
 which is analytically distinct from age - is necessarily age-based.  None of
 this Court's prior decisions should be read to mean that an employer violates
 the ADEA whenever its reason for firing an employee is improper in any
 respect.  The foregoing holding does not preclude the possibility of liability
 where an employer uses pension















                                                                    I           

II                         HAZEN PAPER CO. v. BIGGINS
                                          ____

                                    Syllabus

 status as a proxy for age, of dual liability under the Employee Retirement
 Income Security Act of 1974 and the ADEA, or of liability where vesting is
 based on age rather than years of service.  Because the Court of Appeals cited
 additional evidentiary support for ADEA liability, this case is remanded for
 that court to reconsider whether the jury had sufficient evidence to find such
 liability.  Pp. 3-9.
   2.  The Thurston ``knowledge or reckless disregard'' standard for liquidated
           ________
 damages applies not only where the predicate ADEA violation is a formal,
 facially discriminatory policy, as in Thurston, but also where it is an
                                       _________
 informal decision by the employer that was motivated by the employee's age. 
 Petitioners have not persuaded this Court that Thurston was wrongly decided or
                                                ________
 that the Court should part from the rule of stare decisis.  Applying the
                                             ______________
 Thurston standard to cases of individual discrimination will not defeat the
 ________
 two-tiered system of liability intended by Congress.  Since the ADEA affords
 an employer a ``bona fide occupational qualification'' defense, and exempts
 certain subject matters and persons, an employer could incorrectly but in good
 faith and nonrecklessly believe that the statute permits a particular age-
 based decision.  Nor is there some inherent difference between this case and
 Thurston to cause a shift in the meaning of the word ``willful.'' The
 ________
 distinction between the formal, publicized policy in Thurston and the
                                                      ________
 undisclosed factor here is not such a difference, since an employer's
 reluctance to acknowledge its reliance on the forbidden factor should not cut
 against imposing a penalty.  Once a ``willful'' violation has been shown, the
 _______
 employee need not additionally demonstrate that the employer's conduct was
 outrageous, provide direct evidence of the employer's motivation, or prove
 that age was the predominant rather than a determinative factor in the
 employment decision.  Pp. 9-12.

953 F. 2d 1405, vacated and remanded.

 O'CONNOR, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.  KENNEDY, J., filed
a concurring opinion, in which REHNQUIST, C. J., and THOMAS, J., joined.