Age Discrimination
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson to protect individuals 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age and has been amended by The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act and The Civil Rights Act of 1991. The ADEA's Congressional statement of findings and purpose cites older workers disadvantage in retaining or regaining employment in the face of greater productivity, the common practice of setting arbitrary age limits despite potential for job performance, the relatively high level of unemployment and long term unemployment of older workers and the burdens in commerce and on the free flow of goods created by arbitrary age discrimination as the reason for creating the legislation. The purpose of the ADEA is to "promote employment of elder persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment" (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).
Employees and job applicants are protected under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. The ADEA makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee or job applicant "because of his/her age with respect to any term, condition, or privilege of employment, including hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training" (www.eeoc.gov/facts/age.html). This legislation does allow employers to favor older workers even when this negatively affects another worker who is 40 or older. In order to ensure that the ADEA can be enforced the act makes it unlawful to retaliate against someone for opposing discriminatory employment practices based on age. The ADEA affects all employers of 20 or more employees including employment agencies, labor organizations, federal, state and local governments.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act also covers benefits, job advertisements, pre-employment inquiries, apprenticeship programs, and waivers of ADEA rights. Benefits were addressed by the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990 which amended the ADEA to specifically prohibit employers from denying benefits to older employees. It is unlawful for job advertisements to include age preferences, limitations or specifications except in rare circumstances where age is shown to be a qualification reasonably necessary to the normal operation of business. Employers are not specifically prohibited from asking an applicant's date of birth or age but requests for age information is "closely scrutinized to make sure that the inquiry was made for a lawful purpose (www.eeoc.gov/facts/age.html). Discrimination based on an applicant's age is generally unlawful in apprenticeship programs and is only allowed in certain exceptions by the ADEA. Employers can ask an employee to wave his/her rights in several situations, however the waiver must meet the minimum requirements set by the ADEA. The complete requirements and more information can be found on atwww.eeoc.gov/facts.
