Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

Before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), the only substantive protection from discrimination for United States citizens was the 14th Amendment, which states, “equal protection of the laws.” Seminal cases under this law include, Brown v. Board of Education, and more recently, Bush v. Gore (Cornell University Law School, 2016). Despite the 14th Amendment, discrimination based on race, sex, and age went uncontested as it was often difficult to prove and no specific protections existed. Hence, as part of the Civil Rights Act, the creation of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) allowed federal law to establish protected classes (The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, 2016). As a person who falls under the protected class of age, this paper focuses on age discrimination and the potential ethical issues for employers involving this protected class. While most employers respect and follow employment laws, age discrimination is more common than many realize and can be devastating for the individual and financially problematic for the employer.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) passed in 1967. It was intended to protect the older half of the workforce from age discrimination in the workplace. Several of the major provisions of the ADEA include: protecting what a worker has earned in his/her tenure, allowing workers to oppose practices that are considered unlawful by the ADEA without consequence, and prevent employers and employment agencies from discriminating

Age discrimination in the workforce is a major issue in Today’s society. Although this is hardly ever mentioned, it is a concern that affects the aging population and their work performance. Those who are of old age are often not given a chance and looked down on. They are thought of as being mentally and physically in decline, less adaptable, unwilling to be trained, and costly to the organization. The elderly are considered “slow workers.” They are often forced to work extra hard to prove to their employer, they are capable of working as effective as the young. Defining someone’s work performance according to their age is against the law. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) addresses discrimination against the older population. This Act was passed by congress to ensure people of age 40 and older are given fair judgment in the workforce; however, the maturing population of baby boomers has led to an increasing number of elderly workers. This has cause age discrimination to rise. It is important that we review and analyze age discrimination has a political issues that must be changed. Although ADEA sets out to help the aging population, changes should be made within the employer. In order to seek change, one must first understand ADEA and how it promotes fair treatment for the elderly.

The company is in direct violation of the ADEA of 1967 which states (2)“certain applicant and employees who are 40 years of age and older are protected from discrimination on the basis of age in hiring, promotion, discharge, compensation, or terms, conditions or privileges of employment.” In this case the 68 year old employee could sue the company based on Age Discrimination and win.

As described on Facts About Age Discrimination (2008), the ADEA provides protection against age discrimination for both applicants and employees during the hiring and employment termination process. For employees the ADEA protects against age being a factor in opportunities for promotion, assignment of benefits and selection for layoffs. With few exceptions the ADEA prohibits employers from including age as a criterion when advertising or posting notice for available jobs. The ADEA explicitly protects “whistleblowers” against retaliation as a result of filing an age discrimination

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) was enacted by congress because of its concern that older workers were disadvantaged in retaining and regaining employment.

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

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

The ADEA is administered by the EEOC, and similar in most respects to the Civil Rights Act. Both disparate treatment and disparate impact charges are possible. The Act protects workers 40 years of age and older. A 45-year-old who applies for a job and is rejected in favor of a younger worker can claim disparate treatment. The employer will then have to show that the younger worker was better qualified or provide some nondiscriminatory reason for its decision. An employer could argue that it paid a newly hired younger worker more than an older current employee because this was necessary to attract the younger worker to the job. In disparate impact cases, employees must show that the entire protected group (workers 40 and older) is affected by the employer’s practice and not just some part of the protected group (workers over 60, for example) (Player, 14).

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

The Age Discrimination Employment Act (ADEA) was passed over 40 years ago (in 1967) prohibiting the denial of employment, forced retirement, hours of employment, compensation, or termination of individuals due to the person's age, and it was meant to encourage the employment of older individuals based on their abilities and invaluable experience. However, age discrimination and ageism still permeate American society and the workplace.”(Tate)

Concern by policymakers over these types of incidents prompted Congress to enact the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in 1968, which outlawed discrimination in the workplace against workers between the ages of 40 and 65. Later amendments prohibited mandatory retirement before the age of 70 in 1978 (and then outlawed mandatory retirement altogether with a few exceptions) in 1986. During 1990, 10,485 complaints of age discrimination were filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.” 1 (Johnson and Neumark, pg. 779 , 1996 )

Age discrimination is one of the top reasons employees are laid off. There are so many different reasons why age would play a factor in losing your job. For example, this is especially common in newer hotels and workplaces that want to attract a younger crowd, so therefore they want younger people working for them to bring in their specific clientele. How would you feel if you got laid off because of your age? Putting yourself in the employers’ shoes, would you understand why they are doing so, or would you fight against it? Everyone has their own opinion when it comes to age discrimination in the workplace, and in all actuality there really isn’t a right or wrong answer, it is just a matter of personal preference. One thing to take into account when asking this question is the age of the person you are asking. Of course there will be completely different answers if you ask someone who is in their 20’s or early 30’s then if you ask someone who is 50 plus.

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 (ADEA) prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of age. An employee is