Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that amends the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 to establish an unlawful employment practice for when a complaining party demonstrates that age was a motivating factor for any unlawful adverse employment practice, even if other factors also motivated the practice.

Highlights:

• Establishes an unlawful practice when a complaining party demonstrates that age or a protected activity was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even if other factors may have motivated said practice (Sec. 2).

• Specifies that for a claim in which an individual demonstrates that age was a motivating factor for any employment practice, and a respondent demonstrates that they would have taken the same action in the absence of the impermissible motivating factor, the court (Sec. 2):

• May grant declaratory relief, injunctive relief, and attorney’s fees; and 

• Will not award damages or issue an order requiring any admission, reinstatement, hiring, promotion, or payment. 

• Specifies that while establishing a discriminatory practice, a complaining party (Sec. 2):

• May rely on any type or form for admissible evidence and need only produce evidence sufficient for a reasonable trier of fact to fund that a discriminatory practice occurred; and 

• Will not be required to demonstrate that disability or a protected activity was the sole cause of an employment practice.

• Specifies that this bill will apply to all claims pending on or after the date of enactment (Sec. 3).

• Requires the Government Accountability Office to submit a report analyzing how the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigates mixed-motive age discrimination claims, which should be focused on (Sec. 5):

• The ability of the EEOC to meet the demands of its workload;

• The EEOC’s plans for investigating systemic age discrimination in violation of this bill; 

• The EEOC’s plans for litigation under this bill; and 

• The options for improving the ability of the EEOC to respond to allegations of age discrimination.

• Requires the Secretary of Labor and the EEOC to jointly conduct a study to determine the number of claims pending or filed, in addition to cases closed, by women who may have been adversely impacted by age discrimination as a motivating factor in workplace discrimination or employment termination, no later than 1 year after this bill’s date of enactment (Sec. 6).

• Requires the Secretary of Labor the EEOC to submit a report to Congress that contains the results of the above-mentioned study, including recommendations for best practices to prevent and combat gender and age discrimination in the workplace (Sec. 6).

• Requires the EEOC Chairman to submit a report at 1-year intervals on the number of age discrimination in employment claims brought under this act to the House Education and Labor Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, for a 5-year period beginning on this bill’s date of enactment (Sec. 7).

• Requires the EEOC to submit a report to the above-mentioned Congressional committees, containing an analysis of the status of federal mixed-motive age discrimination in employment claims made against federal agencies, including (Sec. 8):

• The number of such claims, specified by the federal agency against which such claims are made; and 

• Other related information the EEOC determines to be appropriate. 

• Specifies that, except as otherwise described in this bill, an unlawful employment practice is established when a complaining party demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivate the practice (Sec. 2).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text