Jankovitz v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

The Des Moines Independent Community School District (school district) (defendant) adopted an early-retirement incentive program that provided financial incentives for school-district employees to voluntarily retire before age 65. However, employees over age 65 were ineligible for any of the program’s benefits. Robert Jankovitz and five other current or former school-district employees (employees) (plaintiffs) were over the age of 65. The employees sued the school district in federal district court, claiming that the early-retirement incentive program violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Specifically, the employees argued that the program discriminated against employees based on age because a 65-year-old employee could not get any benefits under the program, but a younger, 64-year-old employee with the same job responsibilities and the same years of service could get benefits. In response, the school district claimed that its program was lawful because a safe-harbor provision in the ADEA allowed voluntary, early-retirement incentive plans that were consistent with the ADEA’s purpose. The district court ruled that (1) the school district’s program was voluntary but (2) the program’s age requirement violated the ADEA’s purpose of preventing employers from withholding benefits from an older worker based solely on the worker’s age. The district court granted judgment to the employees, and the school district appealed.