AND · 29usc623:neutral-practice
Isolate the practice responsible for the disparity; workforce-wide age imbalance alone is insufficient. O’Brien held a benefits-liquidation rule applied to hundreds of employees actionable even though adopted once.
Exact element source
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's age; orSource:
docroot/ir/usc/title29.jsonl#title29_sec623; Unicode character offsets [327:564] (end exclusive); SHA-256 d7414b39849853d6a6068539da731f835b09d9f238c028f95f2d0dd04fb6f667.Routes and case patterns
| Route | Definition | Merits instance blocks | Distinct merits cases | Examples (up to 3 cases per count group) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unclassified route provisional; provisional (1 case) | no definition yet | 0 Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 1 | 0 | Used only in non-merits blocks (1). Excluded context examples:Eggers v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. — 899 F.3d 629 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 2018 — not reached · basis not recorded (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · not counted |
| _whole accepted; 3 observed cases | The element is decided as a whole: the reasoning turns on no narrower doctrinal sub-question that distinguishes it from any other application of this element. | 2 Satisfied 1; not satisfied 1; excluded context 1 | 2 | Rogers v. Medline Indus., Inc. — 361 F. Supp. 3d 616 (2019) · United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi · 2019 — not · waived (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/merits · counted O'Brien v. Caterpillar Inc. — 900 F.3d 923 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2018 — satisfied · law (29usc623: author: Astra4 · QA: PASS (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2-crosscheck.md)) · applied/merits · counted Teufel v. Northern Trust Co. — 887 F.3d 799 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2018 — not reached · basis not recorded (29usc623: author: Astra4 · not independently reviewed) · background/merits · not counted |
| specific-practice-identification provisional; provisional (1 case) | Whether the plaintiff identified the specific employment practice said to cause the disparity (Smith v. City of Jackson, Meacham). | 0 Satisfied 0; not satisfied 0; excluded context 1 | 0 | Used only in non-merits blocks (1). Excluded context examples:Rogers v. Medline Indus., Inc. — 361 F. Supp. 3d 616 (2019) · United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi · 2019 — not · no-evidence (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) · applied/alternative · not counted |
How courts decided this element
| Case | Element | Holding and scope | Pattern | Exact source quotations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rogers v. Medline Indus., Inc. — 361 F. Supp. 3d 616 (2019) · United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi · 2019 — not · waived (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Judicial impact requirement to identify a particular practice | not Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: waived The abandonment disposes of the whole disparate-impact claim; it is recorded on neutral-practice because that is the element the court's alternative ruling addresses. | disparate-impact theory pleaded but expressly disclaimed in the summary-judgment response | In fact, Rogers states in the final footnote of his Response [70] that "[he] is not traveling under a disparate impact theory."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_361.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/361/0616-01; Unicode character offsets [18544:18671] (end exclusive); SHA-256 2143e6e4f5eb47581a48a6456883ef0a33ea83acc69f8ba50f47224c3eb47c2e.The Court finds that Rogers has abandoned his claim of disparate impact.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_361.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/361/0616-01; Unicode character offsets [18817:18889] (end exclusive); SHA-256 2143e6e4f5eb47581a48a6456883ef0a33ea83acc69f8ba50f47224c3eb47c2e. |
| Rogers v. Medline Indus., Inc. — 361 F. Supp. 3d 616 (2019) · United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi · 2019 — not · no-evidence (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Judicial impact requirement to identify a particular practice | not Excluded from merits counts applied / alternative basis: no-evidence | no employment policy identified at all; only a list of terminated older salespersons | Instead, the employee is "responsible for isolating and identifying the specific employment practices that are allegedly responsible for any observed statistical disparities."Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_361.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/361/0616-01; Unicode character offsets [17606:17781] (end exclusive); SHA-256 2143e6e4f5eb47581a48a6456883ef0a33ea83acc69f8ba50f47224c3eb47c2e.Rogers has not identified or isolated any neutral employment policy to form the basis of such a claim.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f_supp_3d_361.jsonl#/f-supp-3d/361/0616-01; Unicode character offsets [19057:19159] (end exclusive); SHA-256 2143e6e4f5eb47581a48a6456883ef0a33ea83acc69f8ba50f47224c3eb47c2e. |
| Teufel v. Northern Trust Co. — 887 F.3d 799 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2018 — not reached (29usc623: author: Astra4 · not independently reviewed) | Judicial impact requirement to identify a particular practice | not_reached Excluded from merits counts background / meritsThe actual pension-accrual holding is under section 623(i), not the catalogue’s ordinary subsection (a)(2) impact route. No generic age-disparity merits outcome is inferred. | pension/section-623-i-compliance | He acknowledges that the plan as a whole, and the 2012 amendment, is age-neutral, for pension eligibility is distinct from age.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_887.jsonl#/f3d/887/0799-01; Unicode character offsets [7646:7773] (end exclusive); SHA-256 1d379fb1c9ccccfd883302d5edad3f17267e485c766f39a3fdc557af10931dc1.The Northern Trust pension plan, both before and after the 2012 amendment, complies with § 623(i). Benefits depend on the number of years of credited service and the employee's salary, not on age.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_887.jsonl#/f3d/887/0799-01; Unicode character offsets [10329:10525] (end exclusive); SHA-256 1d379fb1c9ccccfd883302d5edad3f17267e485c766f39a3fdc557af10931dc1. |
| Eggers v. Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. — 899 F.3d 629 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit · 2018 — not reached (29usc623: author: Flash2 · QA: FIX (Fable, neov2/cases/TRIAGE-Flash.md)) | Judicial impact requirement to identify a particular practice | not_reached Excluded from merits counts applied / meritsThe court held only that the district court had correctly identified the two challenged practices; it did not decide whether they satisfy the specific-practice requirement, and disposed of the case on the absence of statistical evidence. | Unspecified route | The district court identified exactly the two policies Eggers challenged.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_899.jsonl#/f3d/899/0629-01; Unicode character offsets [10935:11008] (end exclusive); SHA-256 9855b8d0892e09e81320ba71b6518dbad8a641e88d89836ea5969498f0266b79. |
| O'Brien v. Caterpillar Inc. — 900 F.3d 923 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2018 — satisfied · law (29usc623: author: Astra4 · QA: PASS (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2-crosscheck.md)) | Judicial impact requirement to identify a particular practice | satisfied Counted merits instance applied / merits basis: law The court finds an identified employment practice; the later RFOA defense does not erase that finding. | benefit-liquidation/retirement-eligibility-condition | Under the pension plan, retirement eligibility depends on a combination of age and a factor correlated with age (credited service).Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_900.jsonl#/f3d/900/0923-01; Unicode character offsets [13686:13817] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a033ea2b8166d55b594539c0a4bfdbfabfd4236926a51cff302f1d045dc73bcf.Here the plaintiffs have specifically identified a cause for the disparate impact: Caterpillar's decision to condition benefits on retirement eligibility, a status strongly correlated with age. No more is required.Source: docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_900.jsonl#/f3d/900/0923-01; Unicode character offsets [11615:11829] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a033ea2b8166d55b594539c0a4bfdbfabfd4236926a51cff302f1d045dc73bcf. |
Court interpretations
interpretation
Here the plaintiffs have specifically identified a cause for the disparate impact: Caterpillar's decision to condition benefits on retirement eligibility, a status strongly correlated with age. No more is required.
O'Brien v. Caterpillar Inc. — 900 F.3d 923 (2018) · United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit · 2018 (29usc623: author: Astra4 · QA: PASS (QA2, neov2/qa/wave2-cases-QA2-crosscheck.md))
Here the plaintiffs have specifically identified a cause for the disparate impact: Caterpillar's decision to condition benefits on retirement eligibility, a status strongly correlated with age. No more is required.Source:
docroot/ir/caselaw/f3d_900.jsonl#/f3d/900/0923-01; Unicode character offsets [11615:11829] (end exclusive); SHA-256 a033ea2b8166d55b594539c0a4bfdbfabfd4236926a51cff302f1d045dc73bcf.Isolate the practice responsible for the disparity; workforce-wide age imbalance alone is insufficient. O’Brien held a benefits-liquidation rule applied to hundreds of employees actionable even though adopted once.