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AAUP Signs Age Discrimination Brief
By Gwendolyn Bradley
In June, the AAUP signed onto an amicus brief in a U.S. Supreme Court case on the question whether employees can sue employers under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act for actions or policies that disproportionately affect employees over the age of forty, even if that effect is unintentional. The plaintiffs in the case, Smith v. City of Jackson, are police officers in Jackson, Mississippi, who argue that the police department's new pay scale, which was intended to make pay scales for recently hired officers more competitive with those of other police departments in the region, had the effect of giving senior employees proportionately smaller raises. The brief, written by the AARP, argues that the age discrimination law should be applicable in this case.
The AAUP's interest in the case stems from its concern with preserving the ability of professors to ensure freedom from age discrimination in the acade-mic workplace. The Association policy On Discrimination sets forth the AAUP's commitment "to take measures, including censure, against colleges and universities practicing illegal or unconstitutional discrimination, or discrimination on a basis not demonstrably related to the job function involved, including, but not limited to . . . age."
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