Case Summary: Kimel et al. v. Florida Board of Regents et al.
528 U.S. 62 (2000)
The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers above age 40 from discrimination by any employer with more than 20 employees. Under the ADEA, an employer may not refuse to hire or promote, diminish the wages or benefits of, or otherwise discriminate against a worker because of his or her age.
Twenty years ago, in EEOC v. Wyoming, the Supreme Court made clear that state employers must comply with the ADEA. But in 2000, the Court held in Kimel v. Florida Board of Regents that victims of age discrimination could not recover money damages from their state employers. Thus, older state employees who are victims of age discrimination now have no meaningful remedy under federal law.
Kimel upset almost 20 years of settled law and reduced the ADEA’s promise of an age-neutral work force to mere words on paper for the millions of older state employees. In Kimel, the Court said while states are required to comply with the ADEA, if they don’t, they can't be made to compensate their victims.
