Older Workers Get Preference, High Court Rules

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that companies that give richer benefits to older workers and retirees are not violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). In General Dynamics Land Systems Inc., v. Cline (No. 02-1080), the justices threw out a lower court ruling and decided by a 6-3 margin that ADEA protects workers older than age 40 from preferential treatment given to younger workers, but does not apply in reverse.

The decision blocks a lawsuit brought by 200 employees in Ohio and Pennsylvania against General Dynamics after the company changed its retiree health plan to provide future benefits only to those over age 50. The employees bringing suit claimed they were discriminated against because they were too young to get benefits being offered to older co-workers.

"The statute does not mean to stop an employer from favoring an older employee over a younger one," Justice David H. Souter wrote on behalf of the majority. "An individual's chances of finding and keeping a job get worse over time; as between any two people, the younger is in the stronger position, the older more apt to be tagged with demeaning stereotype."

Writing in dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas stated that the law "clearly allows for suit brought by the relatively young when discriminated against in favor of the relatively old."