The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled two former firefighters can bring an age discrimination suit against the Mount Lemmon Fire District.
John Guido and Dennis Rankin were the two oldest employees of the district when they were laid off in 2009. The two brought an age discrimination suit, but the district argued the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not apply to the small fire district.
Private companies with fewer than 20 employees are exempt, but in Tuesday’s opinion, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote there is “scant room for doubt that state and local governments are ’employer(s)’ covered by the ADEA regardless of their size.”
The two former firefighters can now go back to district court and argue their case.
