With the interpretation of fair employment laws often mired in confusion, it comes as no surprise that the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc. raises more questions than it answers. In declining to apply the mixed-motive standard, commonly used in Title VII discrimination actions to claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), the Court held that an employee must prove that an adverse action would not have occurred “but-for” the employee’s age. The Court maintained that the statutory text, which prohibited discrimination “because of” an employee’s age, could not be literally interpreted any other way. This holding marks a significant departure from the Court’s prior pronouncement in the seminal Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins case decided twenty years earlier and is likely a harbinger for impending disparity among the circuits. . .
