Tom Harkin: “today I join with my senior colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, and with the distinguished chair of the Judiciary…”

“today I join with my senior colleague from Iowa, Senator Grassley, and with the distinguished chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy, in reintroducing the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. The need for this legislation was vividly demonstrated by the experience of an Iowan--Jack Gross. Mr. Gross gave the prime of his life, a quarter century of loyal service, to one company. Despite Mr. Gross's stellar work record, FBL Financial demoted him and other employees over the age of 50 and gave his job to a younger employee. Expressly to prevent this kind of discrimination, in 1967 Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, ADEA. Modeled from and using the same language as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964-- which prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, sex, national origin and religion--the ADEA makes it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of age. When Mr. Gross sought to enforce his rights under this law, a jury of Iowans heard the facts and found that his employer discriminated against him because of his age. That jury awarded him almost $47,000 in lost compensation. The case was ultimately appealed to the Supreme Court. In June 2009, in Gross v. FBL Financial, Inc., the Court ruled against Mr. Gross, and in doing so made it harder for those with legitimate age discrimination claims to prevail under the ADEA. In fact, on remand, despite the fact Mr.…”