States’ Rights or Workers’ Rights? Supreme Court Issues ADEA Ruling

The Supreme Court dealt a major blow to state workers’ rights in January, ruling that state employees seeking monetary damages for age discrimination under fed-eral law cannot sue state governments.

In what is seen as the current court’s disposition to protect states’ rights over state employees’ rights, the justices, in a 5-4 decision, ruled that Congress overstepped its authority when it lifted states’ immunity from lawsuits by its employees under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). The ADEA was passed in 1967 and extended to state governments in 1974.

The high court, in recent years, has tried to protect states from being sued in federal court, citing their immunity under the 11th Amendment. And advocates for public employees, AFSCME in particular, worry that the court will carry that tendency over to interpretations of other federal laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Equal Pay Act.

Last month’s decision was issued in connection with three lawsuits: one from professors and librarians at Florida State University, a second from a Florida corrections officer, and a third from two instructors at an Alabama state college.

Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, writing for the majority, said that Congress’ extension of the ADEA to the states “was an un-warranted response to a perhaps inconsequential problem.” Citing other cases, she noted that “older persons, unlike those who suffer discrimination on the basis of race or gender, have not been subjected to a ‘history of purposeful unequal treatment.’” (Justices are appointed for life.)

O’Connor pointed out that state employees would continue to be protected by state age discrimination laws, and could recover monetary damages through state courts. The problem, though, is that these “avenues of relief” vary from state to state and do not provide the extensive relief (e.g., recovery of attorneys’ fees) offered under federal law.

AFSCME Pres. Gerald W. McEntee blasted the ruling, saying it meant in effect “5 million state employees no longer enjoy the same federal protections against age discrimination that other citizens have. ... Public employees are not second-class citizens.”