The Supreme Court made a ruling on June 18, 2009 regarding Age Discrimination claims under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).  To make a long story short, in a lower court decision, the judge ruled that when the claimant made a claim of age discrimination, the burden of proof switched to the employer that the employment decision was not based on age.  The Appellant Court ruled that the burden of proof still remained with the claimant .  The Supreme Court agreed with the Appellant Court and the burden remains with the claimant.  The important point to remember is regardless of where the burden of proof lies, all your employment decisions should be well thought out and HR analysis done to assure that you do not have disparate treatment of any employee or group of employees.  At Management 2000, we provide HR support to assure that this issue is addressed.