Everything You Need to Know about Age Discrimination

 

 

When we read about a case on age discrimination I don’t think we realize how hard it is to make that case. I read an article that basically outlines what age discrimination is, what actions are taken to fight against it, and what requirements a victim must meet in order to make a case for age discrimination. The article was full of interesting and important facts regarding age discrimination.

Top Ten:

1. When we see an increase in layoffs, we see an increase in claims of age discrimination in the workplace.

This paragraph from the article caught my attention. I had never thought about these two numbers in conjunction with each other but when reading this article it points out things that sometimes people overlook. This brings up the idea that many people who get fired are starting to question whether or not it has to do with their age. Age discrimination is becoming so popular that now people are having to evaluate the these two statistics and seeing if they have any relationship with each other. Also, age discrimination is becoming such a popular concept that when people get laid off, it is more common now for them to question whether or not it has to do with age.

2. There is an act called the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). It protects individuals forty years of age or higher from age discrimination in the workplace.

This is important because when people discuss age discrimination they sometimes think nothing is being done about it. But, here we see that the federal government is trying to make progress with this issue. Another point this passage made was that the act was created in 1967; which shows how long age discrimination has been around for. It shocking to think about how long this issue has been around and concerning to know that even with this act, it still exists.

3. The ADEA does NOT protect anyone under the age of forty.

This is a key part of the article because it seems to be a flaw in the ADEA act. We must remember that age discrimination can act at any age. Yes, it may be more common for age discrimination to occur with older people rather than young, but young workers are still discriminated against. In order to make this act fair, it should protect people of all ages. Sometimes people are not hired because an employer feels they are too young, immature, or inexperienced. There is no law to protect people against that discrimination. This is an important part of the article because it should be addressed and fixed.

4. Companies can be sued for age discrimination in two ways. The first way is disparate treatment—when an employee is discriminated against because the employer doesn’t like their age, race, etc. The second way is disparate impact—the employer uses an employment policy as a way to reject employers on the basis of age, race, .etc.

This is an important because it helps us better understand the claims that are made against age discrimination. Every year there are cases of age discrimination and it is important to understand that you can’t just sue a company because you think they don’t like you due to your age. You have to sue them on the grounds of one of these two treatments. This just shows the red tape that people have to go through in order to file for age discrimination.
5. One reason for age discrimination is an attempt at saving money. Employing an older worker, who has received many raises, results in a higher salary. If a company lays off their older workers and hires new, young workers, then theoretically they are saving money.

This is interesting because you would think that a company would choose an experienced and trained worker to be employed than a newbie who may not have any idea what they are doing. It is interesting that companies can be so desperate to save a few bucks that they would choose the inexperienced worker over the experienced one.

6. Employers often look to hire people who they see are most like themselves.

It is interesting that there is a possibility a company just hires someone because they think they are similar to that person. Hiring someone should be based upon their credentials, experience, etc. It is almost sad that an employer sometimes doesn’t hire a completely qualified person because they seem too old for them. It is important to know the several reasons why age discrimination occurs and this is one of them.

7. Some companies lay off older workers because they feel that they aren’t skilled enough to work with the new technology.

This seems interesting to me because I feel like there are so many other, better, solutions out there to this thought. First, it is completely possible that an older person is just as well versed in the today’s technology as a younger person. Second, if they aren’t familiar with the technology, they can learn, resorting to firing a person because of that isn’t necessary. A company can easily set aside time to hold seminars or classes where the employees are taught how to use this new technology. It is just interesting that firing someone because they assume they don’t know how to use the technology has become the answer to this problem.

8. Usually, people who have not been hired can not prove a case of age discrimination. These people often do not know who was hired instead of them and are not told why they aren’t hired.
This is just another important aspect to the topic of age discrimination. It is important to know who usually claims they’ve been affected by age discrimination. Also, this brings up the topic of not being protected under the ADEA act. When we think of people applying for a job we usually assume they are younger and the ADEA act doesn’t protect younger employers. Therefore, due to these two reasons, younger employees or people not hired usually don’t succeed in making claims against age discrimination.

9. An employee claiming age discrimination has occurred must have a prima facie case which means they have to be forty or older, qualified for the job, suffered from an employer’s decision, and has been replaced by a younger employer.

Again, this just shows the amount of red tape that someone has to go through while filing for an age discrimination case. This also brings up the point of how many cases there are out there that haven’t been statistically filed because they haven’t met all of these qualifications. There are probably hundreds of instances of age discrimination that have occurred that have not been reported because the victim has not wanted to go through all this trouble or doesn’t meet the standards.

10. An employee who successfully wins a case against age discrimination is entitled to damages, compensation for loss of income, the emotional stress it has caused, and fees and costs of the court case.

This is important because it shows that, even though it’s difficult to get to this point, that people have won cases and have had fair compensation for their misfortunes with age discrimination. It is important that after going through all the requirements to prove age discrimination that something is actually done about it. Hopefully the cost this puts on companies will encourage them to no longer discriminate based on age.

www.dol.gov