In 1967, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was passed to protect adults 40 and older who are currently employed or seeking employment from being victimized by age discrimination. However, ageism is still prevalent in many companies around the world, even those we may consider “forward-thinking” or “progressive.”
A study performed by the American Association of Retired Person (AARP) of adults ages 45-74, resulted in 64% of them responding that they have seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) settled 20,857 cases of age discrimination in 2016, paying out $88.2 million, an average of $26,600 per settlement.
The ADEA Act prohibits age discrimination in any of the following circumstances:
- Job postings or descriptions
- Interviews or Hiring
- Salaries
- Job duties
- Job merits or promotions
- Performance evaluations
- Training
- Disciplinary actions
- Employee benefits
- Employee layoffs or terminations
Age discrimination goes unaddressed
While this form of discrimination is prevalent, it doesn’t receive the same headlines as race, gender, or sexual discrimination. As the numbers indicate, it should.
Common forms of age discrimination might include:
- Being directed away from or not offered professional development opportunities offered to younger employees
- Being assigned unfair amounts of tedious and unpleasant work
- Being passed over for raises, promotions or more challenging work projects
- Your employer assuming you aren’t entitled to take time off for family matters because you don’t have young children at home
- Having to endure inappropriate comments about your age
- Consistently poor reviews about your work performance that don’t seem to align with the quality of your work
- Layoffs become resigned to mainly older employees
In addition to the at-work examples, this form of discrimination can take place on job applications by asking for age or more subtly, your date of birth. If the job description does not explicitly address that the position requires younger workers, they cannot legally shoo away older applicants. Older workers have the right to work. Don’t be afraid to speak up and seek representation if you feel victimized by age discrimination.
