Opinion ID: 594405
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Exclusivity of the ADEA

Text: 29 Finally, a decision that the NLRA preempts the ADEA cannot be reconciled with the many cases holding that the ADEA is the exclusive remedy for age discrimination claims. See White v. Frank, 718 F.Supp. 592, 595 (W.D.Tex.1989), aff'd, 895 F.2d 243 (5th Cir.1990), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 111 S.Ct. 232, 112 L.Ed.2d 192 (1990); Paterson v. Weinberger, 644 F.2d 521, 524-25 (5th Cir.1981); Zombro v. Baltimore City Police Dep't, 868 F.2d 1364, 1369 (4th Cir.1989), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 850, 110 S.Ct. 147, 107 L.Ed.2d 106 (1989); Ray v. Nimmo, 704 F.2d 1480, 1485 (11th Cir.1983); Ring v. Crisp County Hosp. Auth. 652 F.Supp. 477, 482 (M.D.Ga.1987); Dodson v. U.S. Army Fin. & Accounting Ctr., 636 F.Supp. 894 (S.D.Ind.1986); Morgan v. Humboldt County School Dist., 623 F.Supp. 440 (D.C.Nev.1985); Tranello v. Frey, 758 F.Supp. 841 (W.D.N.Y.1991), aff'd, 962 F.2d 244 (2d Cir.1992), petition for cert. filed, 61 U.S.L.W. 3356 (U.S. Sept. 29, 1992) (No. 92-704). This has been the holding in cases of both federal employment and non-federal employment. Additionally, all of these cases hold that the ADEA preempts another federal statute. 30 In analyzing whether the ADEA preempted § 1983, the court in Ring v. Crisp County Hospital Authority, supra, articulates the general rule: a precisely drawn, detailed statute preempts more general remedies. Because of the comprehensive statutory scheme set out under the ADEA and the lack of any legislative history indicating a contrary congressional intent, the Ring court concluded that the ADEA is the exclusive remedy for age discrimination. The court rejected an analogy to Title VII which has been held to allow an individual to pursue independently his rights under both Title VII and other applicable state and federal statutes. The court found that unlike Title VII, nothing in the legislative history of the ADEA indicated that Congress did not intend the ADEA to be the exclusive remedy. By establishing the ADEA's comprehensive scheme for the resolution of employee complaints of age discrimination, Congress clearly intended that all claims of age discrimination be limited to the rights and procedures authorized by the ADEA. Ring, 652 F.Supp. at 482. The court concluded that the ADEA provided the exclusive remedy for claims of age discrimination, whether those claims are founded on the Constitution or on rights created by the ADEA. We agree. 31 In a similar analysis, the Fourth Circuit in Zombro v. Baltimore City Police Dept., supra, noted that [t]he text and context of the ADEA itself confirm this conclusion [that ADEA is exclusive remedy]: 'The provisions of this chapter shall be enforced in accordance with the powers, remedies, and procedures, provided in sections 211(b), 216 ...' 29 U.S.C. § 626(b). Section 216 is a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) ..., and it has been held that the statutory remedy of that section is the sole remedy available to the employee for enforcement of whatever rights he may have under the FLSA. Zombro, 868 F.2d at 1369 (citing Lerwill v. Inflight Motion Pictures, Inc., 343 F.Supp. 1027 (N.D.Cal.1972)). The court concluded that the provisions of the ADEA evidence congressional intent to subject all age discrimination claims to the comprehensive statutory scheme clearly embodied in the language and legislative history of the ADEA. 32 In discussing the procedural requirements of the ADEA, one federal district court stated: 33 The inescapable conclusion that is drawn from the foregoing is that if other modes of enforcement were available to the private litigant, the congressional scheme behind ADEA enforcement could easily be thwarted. An impatient plaintiff might unilaterally dispense with the informal negotiations contemplated by Congress, needlessly casting all concerned into costly litigation. Congress did not intend to allow a plaintiff to bypass the statutory scheme clearly embodied in the language of the ADEA. The only reasonable construction of the Act is that the statute's remedy is exclusive. 34 McCroan v. Bailey, 543 F.Supp. 1201, 1209 (S.D.Ga.1982). In sum, based on (1) the above cases holding that the ADEA is the exclusive remedy for age discrimination claims, (2) the cases holding that traditional preemption analysis does not apply when two federal statutes conflict, and (3) the inapplicability of extending the federal/state policy considerations guiding traditional preemption analysis to conflicts between federal statutes, we conclude that Congress intended the ADEA to be the exclusive remedy for age discrimination claims. Accordingly, we disagree with the district court's holding that the ADEA is preempted by the NLRA, and conclude that this Court has jurisdiction under the ADEA to entertain the plaintiffs' age discrimination claims. 35