Age Discrimination – Yes
Withunemploymentrampant in America, employers are free to discriminate based on age. Although employers strongly deny that older workers are discriminated against in the workplace, particularly in their hiring practices, the facts speak for themselves. Workers as young as45 yearsold face a much longer period of unemployment than younger workers will when they experience loss of employment. It was reported by the New York Times that workers 45 years old and older were out of work 6 weeks longer than workers under 45 years old. Workers55 yearsof age and over face an even longer period of unemployment and become more desperate for employment as the months pass.
Let's take a look at some of the possible reasons for employers to let older workers go. An older worker that has been with the company for more than 10 years usually is at a higher pay scale than a newly hired employee. By letting the higher paid older worker go, they could theoretically lower their overall pay scale and eventually could pay no more than minimum wage to desperate job seekers.
The older, long time employee usually has accumulated more vacation time, periods during which the vacationing worker is not producing for the company. It is possible that desperate unemployed workers will agree to less vacation time in order to obtain work.
Employers may believe that an older worker is a bigger health risk, costing them more for health insurance premiums if health insurance is a provided benefit. Also the employer may reason that an older worker is not as energetic as a younger worker and possibly less agile therefore more prone to have an on the job injury. All of the above reasons could possibly cut into profit and greedy companies will consider profit before employee experience or employee welfare. American employers want workers, especially older workers, to work 70 hours each week, have no job security, have no benefits and accept a low pay scale. It is reminiscent of thesweatshopmentality.
Workers on the cusp of retirement age, 55 years old to 62 years old, face nearly impossible odds when searching for a job. Regardless of their experience and impeccable references, they will go on job interviews daily for months on end without obtaining employment. Although it isillegalto discriminate against a job applicant because of age, many hiring personnel will look at the silver haired job applicant with years of experience in the field and an exemplary work record, then put the application in the pile to keep on file. No reason will ever be given to the applicant other than they have filled the position.
It is nearly impossible to prove that the decision to hire a younger worker was made on the basis of age. Employers will never say that the younger worker has more experience, which would be an obvious lie. If you can get the company to explain why they hired a younger less qualified applicant, the employer will probably say that the older worker isover qualifiedfor the job. It's another way of saying that their company wants less qualified, cheaper employees.
Yes, it is age discrimination in the workplace, plain and simple.
