The Problem of Age Discrimination in the Workplace

Age discrimination is something that happens all the time and there are plenty of people who are ousted by either their employers or their credit agencies just because they hit a certain age or are near retirement age. Age discrimination is against the law in nearly every instance and even though employers and creditors may look at your age, they cannot use it against you. Over the years there have been a number of different laws regarding age discrimination, let’s look at a few of them:

The Age Discrimination Employment Act: This Act was developed in 1967 and is known by many today simply as the ADEA. It protects individuals who are over 40 years old from being discriminated in the job place, whether that means being fired or promoted. This Act protects both the individual that is already employed and the one that is applying for a position. It states that no one can be discriminated against according to their age when it comes to: “term, condition or privilege of employment.” This Act is designed to protect those people who are working for medium to large businesses and those who are employed by the state (whether that is local or federal).

The Age Discrimination Act of 1975: This Act, developed in 1975, is designed to protect those individuals who are applying for federal financial assistance. The Act allows any person, regardless of age, to apply and have the same chance of receiving any federal assistance that is available. The Act is enforced by the Civil Rights Center and it works in relation to the Act of 1967 (which is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission).

Workforce Investment Act (Section 188): This Act, which was developed in 1998, protects applicants of the WIA Title I- financially assisted programs from being discriminated against according to their age. This Act not only protects applicants from age discrimination but also according to their: race, color, religion, beliefs, national origin and/ or disabilities. This Act is also enforced by the Civil Rights Center.

Age discrimination is a real life problem for many individuals and it is important that they know their rights when it comes to protecting themselves in all instances. Here are a few more facts about age discrimination.

* Apprenticeship programs cannot discriminate against a person according to their age with the exception of possible minimum age requirements as set by the ADEA or EEOC. * It is unlawful to advertise with age discriminatory marketing. According to the ADEA a company or program cannot distribute advertisements that require applicants to be a certain age to qualify. Certain exceptions apply. * A company cannot use age against an applicant during the application process. While an employer can ask for birthdates and current age, they cannot use this information against the applicant. * Older employees cannot be denied benefits as given by the company. According to the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990, employers cannot deny benefits to deserving older employees.