Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act
Latest action · Mar 22, 2021 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMar 22, 2021
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act
This bill revises the evidentiary standard for age discrimination by establishing an unlawful employment practice when the complaining party demonstrates that age or participation in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation related to an age discrimination claim was a motivating factor for an adverse practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice (thereby allowing what are commonly known as mixed motive claims).
The bill (1) permits the complaining party to rely on any type or form of admissible evidence, which need only be sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to find that an unlawful practice occurred; and (2) declares that the complaining party shall not be required to demonstrate that age or retaliation was the sole cause of the employment practice (thereby rejecting the Supreme Court's decision in Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc., which requires the complainant to prove that age was the but-for cause for the employer's decision).
The bill applies this evidentiary standard to other employment discrimination and retaliation claims, including claims under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.
In a claim in which age discrimination is shown, but where the employer demonstrates that it would have taken the same action absent the motivating factor of age, the bill authorizes courts to grant declaratory and injunctive relief, but prohibits the court from awarding damages or issuing an order requiring any admission, reinstatement, hiring, promotion, or payment. This limitation also applies to claims of discrimination based on disability.
Cosponsors 5
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Mar 22, 2021 to Jan 12, 2022, with 3 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-IA | Chuck Grassley | Original | Mar 22, 2021 |
| D-VT | Patrick J. Leahy | Original | Mar 22, 2021 |
| R-ME | Susan M. Collins | Original | Mar 22, 2021 |
| R-AK | Lisa Murkowski | Nov 16, 2021 | |
| D-NH | Margaret Wood Hassan | Jan 12, 2022 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Mar 22, 2021Introduced in Senate
- Mar 22, 2021Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 2062 | Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act of 2021 | Identical bill | Jun 24, 2021 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Labor and Employment.
- Age discrimination
- Civil actions and liability
- Disability and health-based discrimination
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- Evidence and witnesses
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Labor and Employment
- Racial and ethnic relations
- Sex, gender, sexual orientation discrimination
- Women's employment
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 22, 2021Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.
