Last week, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued its final rule governing disparate impact claims arising under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). A disparate impact occurs when a policy or practice that is facially neutral has a disparate, or significantly greater, impact on older workers than younger ones. The EEOC's final age bias rule addresses the “reasonable factors other than age” defense, or RFOA, under the statute. According to the EEOC, the rule “makes the existing regulation consistent with the Supreme Court’s holding that the defense to an ADEA disparate impact claim is RFOA [reasonable factors other than age], and not business necessity[.]” For more information, see the post by my colleague, Scott Randolph.
