The Supreme Court has recently ruled that employers could be held liable for age discrimination even if they never intended to discriminate in their corporate actions or benefits policies.

In a 5-3 decision, the court said that employees can sue over practices that have a “disparate impact” on older workers, even if the discrimination was unintentional. However, employers can make policies that impact older workers if they are based on “reasonable factors other than age” according to the ruling.

“I don’t think the ruling will change how employers look at risk, but it gives plaintiffs’ attorneys one more arrow than they had before,” says Reginald Jones, a former commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and an attorney at Coudert Brothers LLP.

The judgment applies to workers as young as 40 years old. There are more than 73 million workers who are 40 or older, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Meanwhile, a federal judge recently prevented the EEOC from allowing companies to provide younger retirees with better health care benefits that they give to older ones who qualify for Medicare.