H.R.1230: Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act

The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (H.R. 1230) would codify the “motivating factor test” as the burden of proof under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Due to a recent Supreme Court ruling (Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc.) workers have to prove that age discrimination was the decisive and determinative cause for the employer’s adverse action, rather than just once of several motivating factors in the employer’s adverse action. This bill would effectively reverse this ruling by allowing plaintiffs to rely on any form of admissible evidence that demonstrates that sufficient unlawful practice occurred and not be required to demonstrate that age or retaliation was the sole cause of the employment practice.

CBO estimates that the bill would increase the caseload related to age discrimination by 5 percent to 10 percent or roughly 1,300 additional claims per year and that the EEOC would need to hire about 20 new employees to handle the additional workload including training and outreach, at a cost of about $2 million annually over the 2020-2024 period.

S. 485 is the Senate companion bill introduced by Sen. Bob Casey