ADEA (Age Discrimination in Employment Act)

The federal law prohibiting employment discrimination against individuals aged 40 and older, including in hiring, firing, pay, and promotions. ADEA disparate impact claims face a higher evidentiary bar than Title VII claims following the Supreme Court's Gross v. FBL Financial Services ruling, which required but-for causation. Funders evaluating ADEA matters must assess the causation standard's effect on win probability and the damages cap under the statute.

Because Gross v. FBL requires but-for causation rather than the more plaintiff-friendly motivating-factor standard available under Title VII, funders apply a materially higher causation-risk discount to ADEA claims than to otherwise comparable discrimination theories. The statutory damages cap under the ADEA is also a hard ceiling funders model explicitly, since it limits upside in a way that doesn't apply to Title VII's uncapped compensatory and punitive framework for larger employers.