United States Supreme Court Rules that to Prove Age Discrimination Age Must Be More than Just a Motivating Factor

On Thursday, June 18, 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled that in order to prove age discrimination under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), a person must prove more than that age was a “motivating factor.” Instead, the Court stated in its opinion entitled Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., that “a plaintiff must prove by a preponderance of the evidence . . . that age was the ‘but-for’ cause of the challenged employer decision.” In other words, “that age was the ‘reason’ that the employer decided to act.” This decision sets ADEA claims apart from discrimination claims brought under Title VII, which allow people to bring claims if race, color, sex, religion, or national origin was simply “a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice.”