606
Opinion of the Court
eral Roberts, Edward C. DuMont, Donald R. Livingston, and Gwendolyn Young Reams.*
Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. In this case we clarify the standards for liability and liquidated damages under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 81 Stat. 602, as amended, 29 U. S. C. § 621 et seq.
I
Petitioner Hazen Paper Company manufactures coated, laminated, and printed paper and paperboard. The company is owned and operated by two cousins, petitioners Robert Hazen and Thomas N. Hazen. The Hazens hired respondent Walter F. Biggins as their technical director in 1977. They fired him in 1986, when he was 62 years old.
Respondent brought suit against petitioners in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alleging a violation of the ADEA. He claimed that age had been a determinative factor in petitioners' decision to fire him. Petitioners contested this claim, asserting instead that respondent had been fired for doing business with competitors of Hazen Paper. The case was tried before a jury, which rendered a verdict for respondent on his ADEA claim and also found violations of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), 88 Stat. 895, § 510, 29 U. S. C. § 1140, and state law. On the ADEA count, the jury specifically found that petitioners "willfully" violated the statute. Under § 7(b) of the ADEA, 29 U. S. C. § 626(b), a "willful" violation gives rise to liquidated damages.
*Robert E. Williams, Douglas S. McDowell, and Mona C. Zeiberg filed a brief for the Equal Employment Advisory Council et al. as amici curiae urging reversal.
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for the American Association of Retired Persons by Steven S. Zaleznick and Cathy Ventrell-Monsees; and for the National Employment Lawyers Association by Paul H. Tobias.
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