Employment Litigation · Primary-source case analysis

Smith: The ADEA Allows Disparate-Impact Claims Subject to the RFOA Defense

By Aneeta Mishra and Timothy Chan

Published August 13, 2026 · Updated October 18, 2026

Decision: Smith v. City of Jackson, 544 U.S. 228 (2005).

Smith v. City of Jackson involved older police and public-safety officers who challenged a compensation plan that gave proportionally larger raises to officers with less than five years of service.

The ADEA reaches some neutral practices with age-based effects

The Court read the statute to permit disparate-impact claims by workers protected because they are age forty or older, while recognizing textual differences from Title VII.

A plaintiff must isolate the particular practice

The pay plan did several things: Set market-based salary ranges, assign steps within rank and ensure at least a 2% raise. The employees pointed to age-group percentages and a seniority comparison without isolating which practice caused the disparity. The Court treated identification of that practice as a separate failure, not simply a disagreement over statistical significance. Smith, 544 U.S. at 241–242.

Reasonable factors other than age provide a defense

The Court distinguished percentage increases from dollar increases: Senior officers could receive more dollars yet a smaller percentage because their starting salaries were higher. At the three lowest ranks there were officers both under and over 40. Those facts required examination of rank, salary base and step placement, rather than treating age and tenure as interchangeable variables. Smith, 544 U.S. at 241–243.

The employees lost on the pleaded record

Recognition of the cause of action did not establish liability. Later, Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory, 554 U.S. 84, 91–97 (2008), held that the employer bears both production and persuasion on the reasonable-factors-other-than-age affirmative defense. The employee’s duty to identify the practice does not shift that defense burden back to the employee.

Key takeaways

• Identify the specific neutral practice rather than only an overall disparity.
• Use a reliable comparison group and statistically sound age-impact analysis.
• Document the non-age objective and why the chosen method was reasonable.
• Evaluate less harmful alternatives without substituting business necessity for the RFOA standard.