In a landmark ruling, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has held in the case of Villarreal v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. that the “disparate impact” provision of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) applies only to employees, not to job applicants.
The ADEA prohibits employment discrimination against those who are aged 40 years or older, making it unlawful for an employer to fire an employee or refuse to hire an applicant due to the individual’s age. The provision under question, Section 623(a)(2), bars employers from taking actions which would “deprive or tend to deprive” an individual of employment opportunities due to the individual’s age. It is referred to as the “disparate impact” provision because its intent is to address situations in which individuals above the age of 40 are treated differently by an employer, even if the treatment is not explicitly due to age.
In the case of Villarreal v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the company’s recruitment guidelines called for new hires to be recent college graduates with few years of job experience. The claimant, who first applied for a position with R.J. Reynolds when he was 49 years old, alleged that these guidelines had a disparate and negative impact on applicants over 40, which he believed was borne out by the company’s hiring statistics.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), which is charged with enforcing the ADEA, has previously held that the “disparate impact” provision applies to applicants as well as employees, as have other federal appellate courts. The 11th Circuit’s decision is significant because it breaks with this tradition, instead finding that the provision’s language specifies that it applies only to individuals who already hold “status as an employee.”
The split in interpretation means that the decision is likely to be appealed in the Supreme Court. In the meantime, job applicants within the jurisdiction of the 11th Circuit (which encompasses Alabama, Florida, and Georgia) cannot bring a “disparate impact” claim against potential employers under the ADEA.