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O’connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
O’connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996)
O’Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp. No. 95-354 Argued February 27, 1996 Decided April 1, 1996 517 U.S. 308
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
At age 56, petitioner was fired by respondent corporation and replaced by a 40-year-old worker. He then filed this suit, alleging that his discharge violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The District Court granted respondent’s summary judgment motion, and the Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that petitioner failed to make out a prima facie case of age discrimination under McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green, 411 U.S. 792, because he failed to show that he was replaced by someone outside the age group protected by the ADEA.
Held: Assuming that Title VII’s McDonnell Douglas framework is applicable to ADEA cases, there must be at least a logical connection between each element of the prima facie case and the illegal discrimination. Replacement by someone under 40 fails this requirement. Although the ADEA limits its protection to those who are 40 or older, it prohibits discrimination against those protected employees on the basis of age, not class membership. That one member of the protected class lost out to another member is irrelevant, so long as he lost out because of his age. The latter is more reliably indicated by the fact that his replacement was substantially younger than by the fact that his replacement was not a member of the protected class.
56 F.3d 542, reversed and remanded.
SCALIA, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," O’connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996) in 517 U.S. 308 517 U.S. 309. Original Sources, accessed November 22, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=Y5MR6RZULIFHTGS.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." O’connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996), in 517 U.S. 308, page 517 U.S. 309. Original Sources. 22 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=Y5MR6RZULIFHTGS.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in O’connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corp., 517 U.S. 308 (1996). cited in 1996, 517 U.S. 308, pp.517 U.S. 309. Original Sources, retrieved 22 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=Y5MR6RZULIFHTGS.
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