Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)

age discrimination in employment act (ADEA): General Provisions

age discrimination in employment act (ADEA): Application of the Law

age discrimination in employment act (ADEA): Early Retirement Incentive Programs

The age discrimination in employment act (ADEA) of 1967 was passed by Congress as part of its broad legislative attack on employment discrimination in the 1960s and 1970s. Concerned with incidents of age bias in the workplace, Congress enacted the age discrimination in employment act as an amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that substantially parallels Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The age discrimination in employment act’s provisions prohibit age-based discrimination in employment decisions, benefit programs, and retirement plans. Since the statute’s enactment, courts have dealt with many age discrimination in employment act issues in the context of higher education, ranging from dismissal and denial of tenure to salaries and early retirement incentive plans. This entry reviews the scope and application of the ADEA in higher education.

Ralph Sharp

Further Readings

• Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2009). Harassment charges EEOC & FEPAs combined: FY 1997–FY 2008. Retrieved June 20, 2009, from http://www.eeoc.gov/stats/harassment.html
• Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000d (1964).

Legal Citations

• age discrimination in employment act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 621 et seq. (1967).
• Americans with Disabilities Act, Pub. L. No. 101-336 (1990).
• Davidson v. Board of Governors of State Colleges and Universities for Western Illinois University, 920 F.2d 441 (7th Cir. 1990).
• EEOC v. Wyoming, 460 U.S. 226 (1983).
• Equal Pay Act, 29 U.S.C. § 206(d) (1963).
• Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. ch. 8 (1938).
• Lewis v. St. Cloud State University, 467 F.3d 1133 (8th Cir. 2006).
• MacPherson v. University of Montevallo, 922 F.2d 766 (11th Cir. 1991).
• McDonnell Douglas v. Green, 411 U.S. 792 (1973).
• O’Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996).
• Older Workers Benefit Protection Act, 29 U.S.C. § 623(f)(2) (1990).
• Texas Department of Community Affairs v. Burdine, 450 U.S. 248 (1981).
• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (1964).
• Wichmann v. Board of Trustees of S. Ill. Univ., 180 F.3d 791 (7th Cir. 1999).