Third Circuit Confirms EEOC Authority

In June 2007, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit unanimously upheld an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) regulation that would exempt Medicare carveouts for retiree health benefits from the prohibition in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). See AARP v. EEOC,489 F.3d 558 (3rd Cir. 2007), petition for cert. filed November 19,2007. In doing so, the Third Circuit affirmed the EEOC’s authority, granted in the ADEA, to make exceptions that are both reasonable and necessary and proper in the public interest.