GENERAL DYNAMICS LAND SYSTEMS, INC. v. CLINE
et al.
CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SIXTH
CIRCUIT
No. 02-1080. Argued November 12, 2003--Decided February 24, 2004
A collective-bargaining agreement between petitioner company and a union eliminated the company's
obligation to provide health benefits to subsequently retired employees, except as to then-current workers at
least 50 years old. Respondent employees (collectively, Cline)--who were then at least 40 and thus protected
by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), but under 50 and so without promise of the
benefits--claimed before the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) that the agreement violated
the ADEA because it "discriminate[d against them] ... because of [their] age," 29 U. S. C. §623(a)(1). The
EEOC agreed, and invited the company and the union to settle informally with Cline. When they failed, Cline
brought this action under the ADEA and state law. The District Court dismissed, calling the federal claim one of
"reverse age discrimination" upon which no court had ever granted relief under the ADEA, and relying on a
Seventh Circuit decision holding that the ADEA does not protect younger workers against older workers. The
Sixth Circuit reversed, reasoning that §623(a)(1)'s prohibition of discrimination is so clear on its face that if
Congress had meant to limit its coverage to protect only the older worker against the younger, it would have
said so. The court acknowledged that its ruling conflicted with earlier cases, but criticized those decisions for
paying too much attention to the general language of Congress's ADEA findings. The court also drew support
from the EEOC's position in an interpretive regulation.
Held: The ADEA's text, structure, purpose, history, and relationship to other federal statutes show that the
statute does not mean to stop an employer from favoring an older employee over a younger one. Pp. 3-17.
