Meacham, et al. v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, Inc., et al.

Case Updates

Disagreeing with NCLC, the Supreme Court held that employers bear the burden of proving that the employer relied on “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA) for disparate impact claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

NCLC urged the Supreme Court to uphold a Second Circuit decision holding that employees bringing disparate impact claims under the ADEA have the burden of proving that the employer did not rely on “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA). In its brief, NCLC argued that plaintiffs have a statutory burden to establish that the alleged discrimination was because of the plaintiffs’ age. Congress designed the ADEA to target arbitrary discrimination based on stereotypical judgments about older workers, while carefully preserving employers’ flexibility to make the type of reasoned workplace decisions that commonly correlate with age.