ADEA applies to local governments regardless of size

US Supreme Court: ADEA applies to local governments regardless of size.

Part of a series - Employment Law Case of the Week - by Ross Runkel.

In a unanimous decision, the US Supreme Court holds that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies to local political subdivisions regardless of their size. This is rejection of the argument that the ADEA applies only when a political subdivisions has 20 or more employees. Mount Lemmon Fire Dist v. Guido (US Supreme Ct 11/06/2018) [PDF]

Following Congressional amendments in 1974, the ADEA has two key sentences in its definitions: (a) "The term ‘employer' means a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has twenty or more employees … ." (b) "The term also means (1) any agent of such a person, and (2) a State or political subdivision of a State … ."

The Court said, "We hold … that §630(b)'s two-sentence delineation, and the expression 'also means' at the start of the second sentence, combine to establish separate categories: persons engaged in an industry affecting commerce with 20 or more employees; and States or political subdivisions with no attendant numerosity limitation."

The Court stressed the use of the phrase "also means," which appears dozens of times in the US Code, and typically carries an additive – rather than clarifying – meaning. Also, the second sentence in §630(b) pairs political subdivisions with agents, a discrete category that carries no numerical limitation. Although Title VII applies to local governments only if they meet a numerosity specification, that is a consequence of the different language Congress chose to employ.

The Supreme Court decision affirmed the 9th Circuit, and rejected contrary interpretations by the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 10th Circuits.