First of all the NFL situation is not an age discrimination case under The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967(ADEA). It is an anti-trust claim based on a technicality of how the rule was instituted. They made no claim of age discrimination, and they don’t contest the right to establish a minimum age requirement for the NFL. In fact the rule in question is not even an “age†rule.
You are making the common mistake of confusing age discrimination with youth discrimination, which is sometimes referred to as “reverse discriminationâ€Â. The ADEA of 1967 forbids discrimination against persons over the age of 40. Various minimum age requirements abound everywhere in our society. For example, to enter the priesthood, 30 is considered the normative age at which a man obtains sufficient maturity to intellectually integrate knowledge with life experience to potentially reflect wisdom. Many jobs require a minimum are of 18. The law was enacted to protect older people from being discriminated against in favor of youth, not to protect young people from being discriminated against in favor of older ones. Even the U.S. Constitution has a minimum age requirement to hold offices such as President (35), Senator (30), representative (25). A recent U.S. Supreme court decision reaffirms this:
The US Supreme Court has decided General Dynamics v. Cline, ruling that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act does not authorize reverse discrimination claims and thus permits employers to favor older employees over younger ones in the statute’s protected class. While the decision applies to all employment actions – including hiring, firing, force reductions, promotions, and job assignments – it is particularly good news for employers with retiree health plans, early retirement incentives, and other benefit programs that base eligibility on satisfying minimum age requirements. (4/7/04)
To illustrate, suppose I own a business with 20 employees, business is bad and I need to layoff 10 workers. If I fire the 10 oldest workers ranging in age from 40 to 60 who may also happen to get paid more and keep the 10 youngest, I can pretty well expect 10 EEOC claims. On the contrary, if I decide that I want to keep the older more experienced workers and fire the 10 younger, inexperienced workers, if they are under age 40 they don’t even have standing to make a claim.
Valuable experience usually comes with age therefore if the law prevented discriminating against youth it could be used against employer’s discriminating against inexperience.
The NFL and the players can renegotiate the issue of qualifications for the draft to include experience in organized football such as college, arena, Europe or a minimum age requirement and do it properly if they decide to if the current case goes against them.