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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
NEW YORK--A company that laid off 31 people, 30 of whom were over 40, could have accomplished its goals without having a discriminatory impact on workers protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, says a federal appellate court.
In its Aug. 23 decision in Meacham vs. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld a July 2000 jury verdict that gave awards ranging from about $69,000 to more than $1.1 million to 17 former employees of Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, a subsidiary of Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp.
The jury rejected the plaintiffs' claim of intentional discrimination but found that the laboratory's policy, which was neutral on its face, had a discriminatory impact on older employees and that KAPL "could have accomplished its legitimate business goals by a method that was not discriminatory in its impact."
"Employers are free to decide that layoffs are necessary," said the three-judge panel in its unanimous decision. "But if a particular criterion is subjective...then an employer may be liable for discrimination if equally effective alternatives to the challenged features of the employment practice are available."
"At least one suitable alternative is clear from the record: KAPL could have designed an (involuntary reduction in force) with more safeguards against subjectivity, in particular, tests for criticality and flexibility that are less vulnerable to managerial bias," the decision said.