The United States Supreme Court today ruled that the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (the “ADEA”) applies to all political subdivisions, including fire districts, no matter how many or how few employees they have.
The case was Mount Lemon (Arizona) Fire District v. Guido et al. The Court, by an 8-0 vote (Justice Kavenaugh did not participate in the decision because he was not on the Court to hear oral argument), with Justice Ginsburg writing the unanimous opinion, rejected an argument by the Fire District that the ADEA’s provision applying the law to private employers with only 20 or more workers should also be read to apply to public employers with only 20 or more workers. So, now public employers including fire districts with even one employee are subject to the law. The ADEA protects workers from arbitrary wage discrimination.
The Fire District had argued that it did not qualify as an employer under the ADEA because it had only about a dozen employees, and that to include it as an “employer” would “threaten the survival of small political subdivisions because of the cost of compliance with the Federal standards.
Just to give the background, faced with a budget shortfall the Fire District laid off its two oldest firefighters, Captains Guido and Rankin. The Captains sued the Fire District, alleging age discrimination and violation of the ADEA. The District sought dismissal on the grounds that it was not an employer under the ADEA. The lower court agreed, the Appeals Court reversed and the Supreme Court affirmed the Appeals Court.
The Supreme Court siding with the fire captains, among other things rejected the District’s argument that extending the ADEA to small political subdivisions creates a risk that they will scale back on services. The Court stated that “experience notes otherwise.” According to Justice Ginsburg, the EEOC has interpreted the ADEA to apply to small agencies for 30 years, and a majority of the states in any event forbid age discrimination by political subdivisions of any size.
There is now a Federal along with a State right of action for employees of Fire Districts, no matter how large the work force, who assert age discrimination claims. I would be happy to answer any questions on how this might effect Fire Districts and Departments.
