The Second Circuit has clarified that an employer can be liable under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”) for an independent contractor’s decision to discriminate against a job applicant because of his or her age. In Halpert v. Manhattan Apartments, Inc., Michael Halpert alleged that Manhattan Apartment Inc. (“MAI”) refused to hire him for a position showing rental apartments because he was “too old.” The district court granted summary judgment for MAI, finding that the company could not be held liable for discrimination because Robert Brooks, the individual who interviewed Halpert for the position, was an independent contractor and not an employee of MAI. The Second Circuit reversed and remanded the case to the lower court, concluding that “[a] company’s potential liability does not depend on whether the individual hiring for the company … is an employee or an independent contractor” but rather “[whether] a company gives an individual authority to interview job applicants and make hiring decisions on the company’s behalf…and that individual improperly discriminates against applicants on the basis of age.”
This case is significant because it rejects the misconception that employers can absolve themselves from potential liability under federal anti-discrimination laws by using independent contractors and other third parties to conduct human resource functions on their behalf. In short, the ADEA applies “regardless of whether an employer uses its employees to interview applicants for open positions, or whether it uses intermediaries, such as independent contractors, to fill that role.”
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