Exemptions for Police and Firefighters Under the Age Discrimination in Em Ployment Act
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If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. EXEMPTIONS FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTER~ UNDER THE AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOY· MENT ACT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES OF THE OOM:MITTEE ON EDUOATION AND LABOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MARCH 12, 1986 Serial No. 99-90 ed for the use of the Ccmmittee on Education and Labor NCJRS @~ov 10 \986 ACQUISITIONS U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1986 'or s(lle by the Superintendent of Documents. Congressional Sales Office U.s. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402 COMMI'ITEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS, California, Chairman WILLIAM D. FORD, Michigan JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont JOSEPH M. GAYDOS, Pennsylvania WILLIAM F. GOODLING, Pennsylvania WILLIAM (BILL) CLAY, Missouri E. THOMAS COLEMAN, Missouri MARIO BlAGGI, New York THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin AUSTIN J. MURPHY) Pennsylvania MARGE ROUKEMA, New Jersey DALE E. KILDEE, Michigan STEVE GUNDERSON, Wieconsin PAT WILLIAMS, Montana STEVE BARTLETT, Texas MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California ROD CHANDLER, Washington MAJOR R. OWENS, New York THOMAS J. TAUKE, Iowa RICK BOUCHER, Virginia JOHN R. McKERNAN, JR., Maine CHARLES A. HAYES, Illinois RICHARD K. ARMEY, TeJ(as CARL C. PERKINS, Kentucky HARRIS W. FAWELL, Illinois TERRY L. BRUCE, Illinois PAUL B. HENRY, Michigan STEPHEN J. SOLARZ, New York MERVYN M. DYMALLY, California DENNIS E. ECKART, Ohio TIMOTHY J. PENNY, Minnesota CHESTER G. ATKINS, Massachusetts SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES MATTHEW G. MARTINEZ, California, Chairman PAT WILLIAMS, Montana STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin CHARLES A. HAYES, Illinois PAUL B. HENRY, Michigan CHESTER G. ATKINS, Massachusetts JAMES M. JEFFORDS, Vermont AUGUSTUS F. HAWKINS, California (Ex Officiol (Ex Officiol (II) .. CONTENTS Page Hearing held in Washington, DC, on March 12, 1986 ............................... .... ...... ..... 1 Statement of: Furnas, Col. Larry, assistant superintendent, Indiana State Police, repre senting the National Association of Attorney Generals; Harold Schait berger, director, Department of Government Affairs and Public Rela tions, International Association of Firefighters; and Robert B. Kleismet, president, International Union of Police Association ................................... 10 Hughes, Hon. William, Member of Congress ...................................................... 2 Rinaldo, Hon. Matthew, Member of Congress .................................................... 3 Prepared statements, letters, supplemental materials, et cetera: Chesworth, Donald 0., superintendent, New York State Police, prepared statement of........................................................................................................... 75 Finley, James A., deputy superintendent/legislative liaison, Department of State Police, State of Illinois, letter to Hon. Matthew G. Martinez, dated March 6, 1986 ............................................................................................. 99 Hough, Gerald, letter to Hon. Matthew J. Rinaldo, dated March 11, 1986, expressing the support of the Michigan Department of State Police ........ 75 International Association of Chiefs of Police, prepared statement of............ 99 Kliestmet, Robert B, president, International Union of Police Associa- tions, AFL-CIO, prepared statement of ........................................................... 20 Murphy, Philip A., Jr., counsel, Commission on Human Rights and Op- portunities, State of Connecticut, prepared statement with exhibits ........ 25 National League of Cities, prepared statement of ............................................. 92 National Sheriff's Association, prepared statement of..................................... 103 Rinaldo, Hon. Matthew J., a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey, prepared statement of.................................................................. 4 Russell, Pat, president, and Don Benninghoven, executive director, League of California Cities, letter to Hon. Matthew G. Martinez, dated March 5, 1986 ........................................................................................................ 79 Schaitberger, Harold A., director, Department of Governmental Affairs and Public Relations, International Association of Firefighters, pre- pared statement of ............................................................................................... 16 Scheppach, Raymond C., executive director, National Governor's Associa- tion, letter to Hon. Matthew G. Martinez, dated March 10, 1986............... 98 Small, Bob, chairman, Governor's Oversight Committee for Mandatory Retirement Age of Public Safety Officers, letter to Eric Jensen, dated February 28, 1986 ................................................................................................. 75 (Ill) U.S. Department of Justice Natlonallnstilute of Justice ThiS document has been reproduced exactly as received from the person or organization originating it. Points of view or opinions stated In this document are those of the authors and donot necessarily represent the official position or poliCies of the National Institute of Justice. PermiSSion to reproduce thiS GOID'Ligl;1tild material has been granted by • Public Domalll .U~S-:- House-of-Representatlves~ to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Further reproduction outside 01 the NCJRS system requires permis sion of the co~t owner ----~---- ~-- ---- -- EXEMPTIONS FOR POLICE AND FIREFIGHTERS UNDER THE AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EM PLOYMENT ACT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12, 1986 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:30 a.m., in room 2261, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Matthew G. Martinez (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Members present: Representatives Martinez and Hayes. Staff present: Eric Jensen, staff director; Valerie White, legal as sistant; Sharon Hawley, presidential management intern; and Jeff Fox, minority counsel. Mr. MARTINEZ. Congressman Hughes, why don't you sit down here at the table, and I will just make a brief opening statement and we will start then with your testimony, and as Congressman Rinaldo comes in, just make sure he sits down, and Mr. Hughes will be in his testimony and he can go ahead and join him, and then we will take him after we take Mr. Hughes. Let me just start out by saying this segment of our hearing this morning on retirement age ceilings of the Age Discrimination i.n Employment Act will focus on proposed exemptions to the ADEA for police and firefighters. Although the current ADEA mandatory retirement ceiling is placed at age 70, if age can be shown to be a bona fide occupational qualification for a job, then an exemption from the coverage of ADEA can be granted allowing the employer to lower the mandato ry retirement ceiling. Recently, however, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commis sion, responsible for administering and enforcing the ADEA, has been limiting the BFOQ's to narrow and specific job categories, rather than for whole occupational job forces. In addition, the courts, under the Supreme Court rulings, have reinforced the EEOC's position in limit~ng the BFOQ's, even though certain Federal employees have been given statutory lower retirement ceilings than similarly situated employees in the pri vate sector. One of the bills introduced in this Congress is H.R. 1435 by Mr. Hughes. It would make police and firefighters in States and local ities permanently exempt from the coverage of the ADEA. (1) 2 In this portion of the hearing, we will hear witnesses address both sides of this issue. We will start now with Mr. Hughes. STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM HUGHES, MEMBER OF CONGRESS Mr. HUGHES. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to express my appreciation on behalf of our colleague, Matt Rinaldo and myself for giving us this opportunity to present testimony on this impor tant issue. The legislation we have introduced, as you have aptly described, is a bill to exempt State and local governments from the Age Dis crimination in Employment Act in their hiring and retirement of public safety officers. I would like to begin by stressing my strong support of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and my general opposition to age discrimination. Ability, not age, should be the criteria used to obtain and retain a job. I firmly believe, though, that as a simple matter of public safety and policy, those engaged in law enforcement and firefight ing must be treated differently. In fact, Congress has already acknowledged this to be the case by including provisions in the ADEA which permit the establishment of special hiring and retirement guidelines for Federal public safety officers, firefighters and others who regularly face unique mental and physical demands. Air traffic controllers, for instance, must retire at age 56, foreign service officers at age 65, and Federal firefighterB and law enforce ment officers, including employees of the FBI, S(~cret Service, and Federal Prison System, must retire at the age of 5.5. Until the Supreme Court decided in 1983 that the ADEA could be applied to State and local governments, most States and local ities had established similar guidelines with regard to the hiring and retirement of their public safety officers. While the Supreme Court's decision in the case of EEOC v. Wyo ming had the laudable effect