The Fifth Circuit grounded the U.S.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's bid Tuesday to revive an age discrimination suit over a mandatory retirement policy for
Exxon Mobil Corp. pilots, saying Exxon established that it had to rely on age in the name of safety.
A three-judge panel upheld a trial court's decision to grant summary judgment to Exxon — which employs pilots to fly corporate jets — and ruled that the challenged age requirement was a “bona fide occupational qualification” despite the EEOC's argument that the appeals court should reverse and clear the case for trial without further delay.
The EEOC, who sued Exxon in 2006 on behalf of two pilots who said their forced retirement at age 60 violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, said that the safety rationale behind the age-based ban didn't hold water.