The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear two new employment discrimination cases this term. One involves age discrimination and the other retaliation against employees for complaining of discrimination. This adds to the several others that the Court had already agreed to hear. Employment law is very well-represented considering that the Court will only hear fewer than 70 cases this term. These issues were discussed in a January 19, 2008 article in the New York Times written by their Supreme Court correspondent, Linda Greenhouse.
The age discrimination case, Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, the employer fired 31 people, and out of those 31, 30 were over 40 years of age, which places them in the protected class for age discrimination. The employer claimed this decision was made for a legitimate business reason. The Court will decide the question of when an employer claims that employment decisions were based on “reasonable business justification,” whether it is up to the employer to prove that this reason or reasons existed or if it is the burden of the employee to prove that such reason or reasons did not exist. This issue is one that could have a significant impact on discrimination law for many years to come.
The retaliation case, Crawford v. Metropolitan Government of Nashville, involves an employee, Vicky Crawford, who did not make any complaints to management herself, but rather when other employees complained, there was an investigation of the complaints, and at that point Crawford was questioned and discussed what she believed to be harassment. The end result was that the supervisor who was the subject of the complaints was not disciplined but Crawford and several other women who complied with the investigation were terminated. The Court is hearing this case to decide whether protection from retaliation is only available to the employee who initiates a complaint or files a charge with the appropriate government agency or if those who speak in internal investigations can also receive the same protection from retaliation.
It is readily apparent that employment law, specifically employment discrimination, is one of the most active and evolving areas of the law. It is important that employees are aware of the rights and protections they have under the law and if they feel one of these rights or protections is in jeopardy, that an attorney experienced in the field of employment discrimination is contacted immediately.
Should you require the need of an employment attorney, we would be pleased to hear from you. We want to assure our readers that we expect to share relevant employment law matters with our friends as it occurs.
