You must sign your name. If you file a complaint on someone's behalf, include your name, address, telephone number, and statement of your relationship to that person, i.e., spouse, attorney, friend, etc. Name and address of the institution or agency you believe discriminated against you. How, why, and when you believe you were discriminated against and any other relevant information. Send the complaint to the OCR regional office or the Washington, D.C. headquarters. (EEOC, 2003).
On April 1, 1996, the Supreme Court, in an unanimous ruling stated that employers can be held liable, under the Age Discrimination In Employment Act (ADEA), when older workers are replaced with others who are themselves 40 years of age or older. (James O'Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corporation).
Specifically, Justice Scalia, writing for the court, stated, "There can be no greater inference of age discrimination . when a 40 year-old is replaced by a 39 year-old than when a 56 year-old is replaced by a 40 year-old." Moreover, Justice Scalia stated that "Because the ADEA prohibits discrimination on the basis of age and not class membership, the fact that a replacement is substantially younger than the plaintiff is a far more reliable indicator of age discrimination than is the fact that the plaintiff was replaced by someone outside the protected class." While this holding does not provide a specific definition of "substantially younger", it does affirm the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's (EEOC) regulation, which prohibit an employer from discriminating on the basis of age even when all parties are in the protected age group.
The following is a summary of James O'Connor v. Consolidated Coin Caterers Corporation: Petitioner James O'Connor was employed by respondent Consolidated Coin Caterers Corporation from 1978 until August 10, 1990, when, at age 56, he was fired. Claiming that he had been dismissed because of his age in violation of the ADEA, petitioner sued in the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina.
