Ahlmeyer

Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”), 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq., to promote the employment of older persons and prohibit arbitrary discrimination by employers based on age. See 29 U.S.C. § 621 (b). Congress crafted a detailed administrative scheme with complex enforcement mechanisms to accomplish these goals. When a district court dismissed Linda Ahlmeyer’s ADEA claim because it was barred by the Eleventh Amendment, Ahlmeyer moved to amend her complaint so she could vindicate the same alleged wrong — workplace discrimination based on her age — through 42 U.S.C. § 1983 . The district court denied Ahlmeyer’s motion as futile and, pursuant to the parties’ stipulated dismissal of Ahl-meyer’s remaining claims, entered an order dismissing the claims with prejudice. Because we hold the ADEA is the exclusive enforcement mechanism for claims of age discrimination in employment, we affirm.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

On October 17, 2005, Ahlmeyer filed a complaint in district court against the Nevada System of Higher Education (“NSHE”) and her former supervisor Mike Reed. The complaint alleged that Ahlmeyer, who was over forty years old, was not allowed…