Age Discrimination In The Workplace

| The Equality Act 2010 brought together existing regulations that already gave protection against ageism and other forms of discrimination, and extended them.  Since October 2010 this has been the main law relating to age discrimination, protecting you against ageism in employment, education and training.The law maintains your right not to be disadvantaged or treated badly at work because of your age.

The American population is aging as health care improves, the older generation is living longer and are still working or just getting into the workplace. One of the biggest issues that these older individuals face is age discrimination within the workplace. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 forbids employment discrimination on the basis of age. Through a detailed explanation and history of the law, this paper will examine how ADEA affects the professionals in the workplace, human resources, managers, and employers in the workplace. It will further examine how the employee is affected by ADEA. This includes what their rights are and how they can make a complaint. Lastly, a legal case will be examined and evaluated so

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was established to provide fairness in the workplace for citizens over the age of 40. This law was intended to guard against employers using unscrupulous hiring practices and unfairly firing individuals without legitimate reasons. The Civil Rights Act was updated to fight discrimination based on sex, race, and religion, but never addressed the issue of age. Age related concerns arose during the 1960’s when the economy began to change rapidly in technology and scope. Many experienced professionals were being displaced or simply discriminated against, because it was believed that it was cheaper to hire and train inexperienced employees, or because it would save on pension expense that was due to personnel approaching retirement age. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 provides security for older employees that have the competency to do work but are held in prejudice, because they are advancing in years.

Age discrimination has long been present in society due to the rapid development happening around us. According to Farney, Aday & Breault (2006), this era of ageism is defined as "discrimination against any age group", but it often is pointed to age discrimination among adults which is slowly causing a negative effect for them in the workplace. In the workplace, adults with more experience and longer history behind them are targets of this ageism belief that companies and employers tend to have (Farney, Aday, & Breault, 2006). They are shunned and even fired in favor of accepting new and fresh faces for the company they have worked for. Unknown to most companies and employers, this notion of favoring the young and banishing the old can

The elderly experience ageism on a daily basis. Whether it is in the workplace, in the media, by family and personal relationships. Workers report that age discrimination has become common in their work place. Society trains us early on to “act our age,” and it carries into adulthood. Many believe that the elderly should retire and let younger workers have their jobs. Women report that this bias appears for them at a younger age than for men who are their contemporaries. This is especially true in the media, we tend to judge older women harder than we do older men.

Many people recognize that as they get older and reach a certain age, others begin to treat them differently. In our youth drive society, ageism is the underlying cause of so many quality of life issues that older adults are facing. Whether the issue is hiring younger employees, restricted community based housing, forced retirement, and or stereo typing, if we dig deeper enough age discrimination is present. There are, of course above and beyond adverse cost to age discrimination beyond the psychological and social stigma. This paper will review literatures on age discrimination practices in society institutions and laws such as the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) including other similar federal anti-aging discrimination

Discrimination against older workers is one of the forbidden grounds of discrimination in the labour market across Canada. Age discrimination affects an older adult’s career, advancements, opportunities, and privileges in the labour market. Furthermore, older adults tend to be marginalized, institutionalized, and stripped of responsibility, power, and their dignity (Nelson 208). The Canadian population is aging rapidly and that changes in the population age structure have led to considerable discussion of ageism and social policies like mandatory retirement and old age security. Employers continue to have negative attitudes and stigma toward older workers (Klassen and Gillin 36). Social policy like mandatory retirement is the leading form

In conclusion, ageism in today’s times is a real form of discrimination and needs to be fixed. An individual’s skills and capabilities should be based on a personal level, not their age. The elderly and the young need just as much job opportunities as the middle-aged individuals living in the

* The immediate supervisor told David that “Jason is going to places in this Company”.

Age discrimination in employment is a complex issue which impacts many areas of Government policy and has many implications for individuals themselves. Age discrimination can occur across all spectrums of employment and can affect both young and old. Age discrimination can affect a person’s chances of getting a job, and potentially their chances of promotion or development within the workplace. Age can also be a factor when employers are deciding who should be selected during a workforce downsize or redundancy of work due to a mergers and acquisitions.

There has always been some “ism” that social movements have fought against throughout America’s history, and the issue of “ageism” was finally addressed in The Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Ageism can be defined as prejudiced beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors pertaining to older adults. To understand the ADEA fully, a brief history of age discrimination is useful to comprehend the Structural Level of this bill. Discrimination based on age was not a large issue until the beginning of the 20th century, mainly because it was a tacit form of discrimination. For the most part, people worked until they were at an age where they did not feel useful, and for the rest of their lives their families would take care of them. Industrialization

“Sketchy evidence that older workers experience discrimination because of their age is easy to find. The popular press includes many stories of individual employees who have been replaced by younger workers, sometimes just before they become eligible for lucrative retirement benefits. Older workers (in the past) were forced by mandatory

To critically and comprehensively address this case, it is convincingly important to assess the laws that forbids age discrimination and wrongful termination in workplace. Under the law, age discrimination can involve treating an employee or applicant less favorably because of her or his age. In accordance to the “Age Discrimination in Employment Act, it is unlawful to discriminate an employee on basis their age. The law is categorically clear that an employer not discriminate individuals who are 40 years old and above (Walsh, 2013). It should be noted that the Act provide for protection for the people/workers below 40 years. However, some states in the United States have laws in place that protect young employees against age discrimination. It is unlawful or illegal for employers or any other entity to consider hiring/favoring an older worker over the younger one. This withstands even if both employees are 40 and above. The law strongly prohibits age discrimination in any aspect of employment including firing, hiring, pay, promotions, job assignments, trainings, layoffs, benefits, and any other condition or term of employment.

Age discrimination is an issue today, more than ever especially when companies seek to avoid having to pay retirement or medical benefits and do so by firing older employees who might be about to invest in their pension or who might need medical attention. Another reason is that older employees may be paid more than new hires, so companies replace older workers with new workers just for that reason. This type of change is in addition to those who are simply biased against older workers and who take any opportunity to remove older works and bring in new blood

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 made an amendment to restore a better public safety, such as allowing fire departments and police officers unlimited hiring capacity and mandatory retirement ages. Additionally, it protects new job applicants disclosing their age. Employers who dare to ask will make us thoughtful of his ulterior motive for such a question.