On January 28, 2020, Nick Reiter was quoted in Westlaw Journal Employment on the impact of a pending U.S. Supreme Court decision on whether the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) requires a federal employee to prove that age was the sole cause of the alleged discriminatory action.
According to the article, the Justices' questions center on the different language in two provisions of the statute. The ADEA's provisions for private-sector, state, and local government employees prohibit discrimination because of such individual's age," while the provision for federal employees says, all personnel actions…shall be made free from any discrimination based on age."
Reiter said that if the high court decides the ADEA's federal-sector provision requires only a showing that age was just one reason for discriminatory action, it will be easier for federal employees to win their case. It could also "provide congress a roadmap" for amending the ADEA and other laws for which courts have applied a "but-for" standard.