Opinion ID: 33422
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the adea legislative history

Text: 71 My second point of disagreement with the majority concerns its portrayal of the legislative history of the ADEA. The majority opinion subtly recognizes that the legislative history of the ADEA is not directly on point. Although the majority's opinion properly recognizes that the Supreme Court's 1971 endorsement of the disparate impact theory in Griggs, 401 U.S. at 430-31, 91 S.Ct. 849, was later in time than Congress's enactment of the ADEA in 1967, the majority attempts to support its position by focusing on the underlying purposes of the legislation. 72 Although the language of Title VII and the ADEA are almost identical, the majority essentially dismisses Griggs as irrelevant to the calculus of age discrimination. The majority distinguishes Griggs from the ADEA on the grounds that Griggs interpreted Congress's intent underlying Title VII as sweeping in nature. The majority argues, [i]n contrast to the refined purpose evidenced in the historical underpinnings to the ADEA's enactment, the Supreme Court's opinion in Griggs discusses Title VII's broad remedial purpose. While it is undoubtably true that Griggs recognized disparate impact theory as an available tool in the employment discrimination toolbox to remedy past discrimination under Title VII, it does not necessarily follow, as the majority asserts, that the disparate impact tool is available only in a remedial context. 73 I disagree in two respects with the majority's holding that disparate impact theory should be limited to the context of Title VII. First, the textual similarity between Title VII and the ADEA evinces a congressional intent to provide similar protection against employment discrimination under the two statutes. Second, it is arguable whether historical discrimination should be a necessary precondition for recognizing a disparate impact theory. I acknowledge, as the majority does, that the ADEA and Title VII are distinct because the former lacks a history tied to past discrimination. In the absence of a clear statement to the contrary, however, I cannot assume that Congress intended to limit the remedial measures available under anti-discrimination statutes with almost identical language merely because the statutes arose out of distinct historical contexts. The Supreme Court in Griggs, for example, did not posit historical discrimination as the sole reason for disparate impact under Title VII; Griggs merely held that a showing of disparate impact was available to remedy this type of discrimination. See Jennifer J. Clemons and Richard A. Bales, ADEA Disparate Impact in the Sixth Circuit, 27 Ohio N.U. L.Rev. 1, 23 (2000). Moreover, the majority's emphasis on the historical posture of the ADEA and Title VII unduly minimizes the statutes shared aim of ridding from the workplace an environment of concealed discrimination. Griggs, 401 U.S. at 431, 91 S.Ct. 849 (stating that Title VII proscribes not only overt discrimination but also practices that are fair in form, but discriminatory in operation); EEOC v. Wyoming, 460 U.S. 226, 231, 103 S.Ct. 1054, 75 L.Ed.2d 18 (1983) (stating that the ADEA seeks to remedy arbitrary forms of age discrimination based in large part on stereotypes unsupported by objective facts, and often defended on grounds different from its actual causes). Consistent with such an aim, a disparate impact theory may be a plaintiff's only tool in counteracting sophisticated discrimination. Therefore, due to the similarity of the ADEA and Title VII language, it is my view that the protection available under both statutes, including that from disparate impact, should also be similar. 74 The majority ignores the fact that Griggs does not stand alone as the only relevant decision applying disparate impact theory. Under Supreme Court precedent, the disparate impact theory has grown beyond its original purpose of alleviating racial discrimination claims. See Dothard v. Rawlinson, 433 U.S. 321, 329-32, 97 S.Ct. 2720, 53 L.Ed.2d 786 (1977) (applying disparate impact theory to Title VII sex discrimination claims). Furthermore, under the 1991 Civil Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2000-e2(k)(1)(A)(I) (1994), disparate impact claims are readily available not only to plaintiffs alleging racial discrimination, but also to those claiming discrimination on the basis of gender, national origin, and religion. 7 In light of these developments, I cannot agree with the majority that the ADEA must be limited solely to disparate treatment claims. 75 I also do not agree with the majority's interpretation of the most prominent documentation of all ADEA legislative history, the Wirtz Report. 8 The majority uses the Report to bolster its argument that the ADEA was not premised on eradicating past discrimination. The flaw with the majority's use of this most critical evidence of congressional intent is its failure to acknowledge the argument, embodied within the Wirtz Report, that age discrimination was in fact based in large part on stereotypes unsupported by objective fact, and was often defended on grounds different from its actual cause. See EEOC, 460 U.S. at 231, 103 S.Ct. 1054. The aforementioned conclusion seems to indicate that the ADEA's purpose may not have been limited to eradicating animus, as the majority suggests. Rather, and in contrast to the majority's view, the Wirtz Report indicates that Congress merely intended to utilize the ADEA to eliminate stereotypes that workers' productivity declines with age. That said, I acknowledge that the Wirtz Report is supportive evidence of Congress's intent concerning the ADEA and that the Report did in fact distinguish age discrimination as rarely based on the sort of animus motivating some other forms of discrimination. My position merely suggests that because the Wirtz Report sheds the best light on Congress's intent in enacting the ADEA, a point the majority does not refute, this Report arguably provides more support for affirming, rather than denying, that the ADEA contains a disparate impact cause of action. 76 Furthermore, the legislative intent indicating that Congress meant to allow the disparate impact theory in ADEA actions may be discerned from a Congressional amendment. In 1994, Congress amended the ADEA by adding the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). 29 U.S.C. § § 623, 626, 630(f) (1994). The statute requires an employer to provide the employee with information regarding the ages of workers offered severance pay and those who were not let go before the employee waives any potential discrimination claims. 29 U.S.C. § 626(f)(1)(E)-(G), (H)(ii) (1994). These statistics, comparing the ages of those terminated and those retained, would be of little relevance if the employee could not bring a disparate impact claim. Therefore, the addition of the OWBPA is additional evidence that the disparate impact theory should be available under the ADEA.