A federal appeals court ruled in favor of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Friday in a case alleging age discrimination by Baltimore County, which requires newly hired, older employees to make higher pension contributions than their younger counterparts.
The decision, handed down in an eight-page ruling, overturns an earlier ruling for the county and sends the lawsuit back to U.S. District Court, where a judge will reconsider the issue. The outcome could force the county government to restructure its retirement system.
County officials said they had not reviewed the case Friday, but spokeswoman Ellen Kobler added that they're "confident" they will prevail "because our retirement system is not and has never been discriminatory."
The county has said it requires the different contribution rates based on legal financial considerations, not discrimination. But the appeals judges said they were "unable to determine as a matter of law" if that were true, and remanded the case, originally filed in 2007, back to district court.