Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Virginia for yielding. Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this bill, the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. Older workers who bring suit for age discrimination are often ostracized at their workplace. They open their lives to invasive probes by defense counsel through written discovery, by deposition, and, ultimately, testifying at a trial. These probes are often meant to embarrass rather than seek the truth. When our older workers finally reach the courthouse door, it is often almost closed before they even get to the courtroom. As a former civil litigator, I have brought and defended multiple age discrimination cases. These are very emotional and difficult claims. No one likes getting older, but when one has to put one's age in full view of all because of perceived discrimination at work, an older worker then has to experience the scrutiny of lawyers, judges, and juries to prove that he or she was discriminated against because of age. But worse, our older workers are, again, discriminated against when they seek redress from the courts. That is because the Supreme Court, in the 2009 case of Gross v. FBL Financial Services, ruled that an older worker bringing an ADEA claim must prove that age was the ``but for'' cause, the sole determining cause of an adverse employment decision.…”