The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined a former Watch Hill Bank teller’s call for clarification of what a worker must prove to establish age discrimination under federal law.
Melanie Pelcha said the meaning of the justices’ 2009 holding in Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc. that an employee must show that age was the “but-for” cause of an adverse employment action has become muddled and sown confusion among the lower federal courts.
The confusion led the Sixth Circuit to mistakenly rule that she needed—and failed—to show that bias by Watch Hill’s CEO was the “sole cause” of her termination ...