Villarreal v. R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. (rehearing)

Case Updates

Sitting en banc, the Eleventh Circuit ruled against the EEOC and held that the ADEA does not authorize disparate impact claims by job applicants (as opposed to employees). The Court also overturned the panel’s aggressive equitable tolling holding, reaffirming that a plaintiff must plead both diligence and extraordinary circumstances before being entitled to equitable tolling.

Following the Eleventh Circuit’s granting of rehearing en banc, the Chamber filed an additional amicus brief. The brief argued that sound policy underlies Congress’s decision not to permit claims by applicants that hiring practices have a disparate impact based on age. Additionally, the brief argued that permitting revival of years-old claims under a no-diligence equitable tolling rule is not necessary to protect access to antidiscrimination remedies and would apply in virtually every case.

Donald R. Livingston, Hyland Hunt, and Z.W. Julius Chen of Akin Gump served as co-counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.

Click here to view the order.

After a divided panel held that Section 4(a)(2) of ADEA authorizes disparate impact claims by job applicants and that the plaintiff was entitled to equitable tolling of the ADEA limitations period even though he missed the filing deadline by over two years, the U.S. Chamber filed an amicus brief in support of rehearing en banc. The Chamber argued that the panel’s decision will unreasonably burden—and possibly cause employers to abandon—longstanding, lawful hiring practices widely used in both the private and public sectors. Further, the brief argued that the panel’s determination that the plaintiff was entitled to equitable tolling without a finding that he exercised diligence or that extraordinary circumstances existed effectively eliminates the statute of limitations for ADEA disparate impact claims and invites forum shopping.

Donald R. Livingston, Hyland Hunt, and Z.W. Julius Chen of Akin Gump served as co-counsel to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center.