Jack Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. (557 U.S. 167)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 18, 2009 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 557 U.S. 167 · 129 S. Ct. 2343
- Decided
- June 18, 2009
- Term
- October Term 2008
- Vote
- 5–4
- Majority author
- Justice Thomas
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Thomas delivered the opinion of the Court. The question presented by the petitioner in this case is whether a plaintiff must present direct evidence of age discrimination in order to obtain a mixed-motives jury instruction in a suit brought under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 81 Stat. 602, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 621 et seq. Because we hold that such a jury instruction is never proper in an ADEA case, we vacate the decision below. I Petitioner Jack Gross began working for respondent FBL Financial Group, Inc. (FBL), in 1971. As of 2001, Gross held the position of claims administration director. But in 2003, when he was 54 years old, Gross was reassigned to .the position of claims project coordinator. At that same time, FBL transferred many of Gross’ job responsibilities to a newly created position — claims administration manager. That position was given to Lisa Kheeskern, who had previously been supervised by Gross and who was then in her early forties. App. to Pet. for Cert. 15a, 23a (District Court opinion). Although Gross (in his new position) and Kheeskern received the same compensation, Gross considered the reassignment a demotion because of FBL’s reallocation of his former job responsibilities to Kheeskern. In April 2004, Gross filed suit in District Court, alleging that his reassignment to the position of claims project coordinator…
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