29 U.S.C. § 631
Section 631 · Age limits
This is § 12 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967
Amended 7 times on record
Applied in 840 court decisions — leading case Karen Sutton Kimberly Hintons v. United Air Lines Inc (1999)
Most recently applied in Purushothaman Rajaram v. Meta Platforms, Inc. (June 2024)
Applied most in the Second Circuit Circuit (48 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 29 U.S.C. § 623 · 29 U.S.C. § 621 · 29 U.S.C. § 626
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The prohibitions in this chapter shall be limited to individuals who are at least 40 years of age.
In the case of any personnel action affecting employees or applicants for employment which is subject to the provisions of section 633a of this title, the prohibitions established in section 633a of this title shall be limited to individuals who are at least 40 years of age.
(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained 65 years of age and who, for the 2-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policymaking position, if such employee is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings, or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer of such employee, which equals, in the aggregate, at least $44,000.
(2) In applying the retirement benefit test of paragraph (1) of this subsection, if any such retirement benefit is in a form other than a straight life annuity (with no ancillary benefits), or if employees contribute to any such plan or make rollover contributions, such benefit shall be adjusted in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, after consultation with the Secretary of the Treasury, so that the benefit is the equivalent of a straight life annuity (with no ancillary benefits) under a plan to which employees do not contribute and under which no rollover contributions are made.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1989—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–239 struck out “(except the provisions of section 623(g) of this title)” after “in this chapter”.
1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–592, §2(c)(1), which directed that “but less than seventy years of age” be struck out was executed by striking out “but less than 70 years of age” after “40 years of age” as the probable intent of Congress.
Pub. L. 99–272 inserted “(except the provisions of section 623(g) of this title)” after “this chapter”.
Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 99–592, §2(c)(2), which directed that “but not seventy years of age,” be struck out was executed by striking out “but not 70 years of age,” after “65 years of age” as the probable intent of Congress.
Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 99–592, §6(a), (b), temporarily added subsec. (d) which read as follows: “Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained 70 years of age, and who is serving under a contract of unlimited tenure (or similar arrangement providing for unlimited tenure) at an institution of higher education (as defined by section 1141(a) of title 20).” See Effective and Termination Dates of 1986 Amendments note below.
1984—Subsec. (c)(1). Pub. L. 98–459 substituted “$44,000” for “$27,000”.
Pub. L. 95–256, §3(a), designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), substituted “40 years of age but less than 70 years of age” for “forty years of age but less than sixty-five years of age”, added subsecs. (b) and (c), and temporarily added subsec. (d). See Effective and Termination Dates of 1978 Amendment note below.
Effective Date of 1989 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 101–239 applicable to items and services furnished after Dec. 19, 1989, see section 6202(b)(5) of Pub. L. 101–239, set out as a note under section 162 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.
Effective and Termination Dates of 1986 Amendments
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–592 effective Jan. 1, 1987, with certain exceptions, see section 7(a) of Pub. L. 99–592 set out as a note under section 623 of this title.
Section 6(b) of Pub. L. 99–592 provided that: “The amendment made by subsection (a) of this section [amending this section] is repealed December 31, 1993.”
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–272 effective May 1, 1986, see section 9201(d)(2) of Pub. L. 99–272, set out as an Effective Date of 1986 Amendment note under section 1395p of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Section 802(c)(2) of Pub. L. 98–459 provided that: “The amendment made by paragraph (1) of this subsection [amending this section] shall not apply with respect to any individual who retires, or is compelled to retire, before the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 9, 1984].”
Effective and Termination Dates of 1978 Amendment
Section 3(b) of Pub. L. 95–256 provided that:
“(1) Sections 12(a), 12(c), and 12(d) of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, as amended by subsection (a) of this section [subsecs. (a), (c), and (d) of this section] shall take effect on January 1, 1979.
“(2) Section 12(b) of such Act, as amended by subsection (a) of this section [subsec. (b) of this section], shall take effect on September 30, 1978.
“(3) Section 12(d) of such Act, as amended by subsection (a) of this section [enacting subsec. (d) of this section], is repealed on July 1, 1982.”
Transfer of Functions
“Equal Employment Opportunity Commission” substituted for “Secretary”, meaning Secretary of Labor, in subsec. (c)(2) pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1978, §2, 43 F.R. 19807, 92 Stat. 3781, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, which transferred all functions vested by this section in Secretary of Labor to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, effective Jan. 1, 1979, as provided by section 1–101 of Ex. Ord. No. 12106, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1053.