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(a) The ADEA’s text and structure indicate that the RFOA exemption creates an affirmative defense, for which the burden of persuasion falls on the employer. Held: An employer defending a disparate-impact claim under the ADEA bears both the burden of production and the burden of persuasion for the “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA) affirmative defense under §623(f)(1).
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The Second Circuit then held for Knolls, finding its prior ruling untenable because it had applied a “business necessity” standard rather than a “reasonableness” test in assessing the employer’s reliance on factors other than age in the layoff decisions, and because Meacham had not carried the burden of persuasion as to the reasonableness of Knolls’s non-age factors. This Court vacated the judgment and remanded in light of its intervening decision in Smith v. The jury found for Meacham on the disparate-impact claim, and the Second Circuit initially affirmed. To show such an impact, Meacham relied on a statistical expert’s testimony that results so skewed according to age could rarely occur by chance and that the scores for “flexibility” and “criticality,” over which managers had the most discretionary judgment, had the firmest statistical ties to the outcomes.
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Petitioners (Meacham, for short) were among those laid off, and they filed this suit asserting, inter alia, a disparate-impact claim under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA),Ģ9 U. Of the 31 employees let go, 30 were at least 40 years old. When the National Government ordered its contractor, respondent Knolls, to reduce its work force, Knolls had its managers score their subordinates on “performance,” “flexibility,” and “critical skills” these scores, along with points for years of service, were used to determine who was laid off.
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