MOUNT LEMMON FIRE DISTRICT v. JOHN GUIDO
Supreme Court of the United States, Ginsburg, November 6, 2018,
ADEA – Age discrimination law applies to all state and local political entities regardless of size.

Facts: The Mount Lemmon Fire District in Arizona fired its two oldest firefighters for budgetary reasons.
The firefighters sued, arguing that this was a violation of the ADEA. The Fire District moved to dismiss the suit, arguing that the ADEA didn’t apply to it because it had fewer than 20 employees.

Held: The ADEA applies to State and political subdivisions “regardless of the number of employees they have.”

ADEA – The Age Discrimination in Employment Act makes it illegal to discriminate against an employee because of their age, limited to individuals who are at least 40 years old.

ADEA – The ADEA applies to employers with 20 or more employees as well as to “a State or political subdivision of a State and any agency or instrumentality of a State or a political subdivision of a State, and any interstate agency.”

From the Case: