There are many factors that employers can consider when deciding who to fire, hire or promote. There are a wide range of few characteristics that should have no bearing on employment decisions. Workers should not have to worry about their race, sex, or religion influencing whether they can obtain or retain a job.
Some types of workplace discrimination are clearly more common than others. One of the most widespread forms of discrimination in the workplace relates to a worker’s age. Federal law explicitly prohibits employers from considering a worker’s age once they are 40 years old. Many states, and the District of Columbia, also have age discrimination laws that may have broader coverage than the federal laws. Unfortunately, quite a few companies may ignore signs of workplace discrimination targeting older workers or may actively engage in age discrimination.
What are some of the ways that companies discriminate against older employees?
Allowing a hostile work environment to develop
Coworkers and supervisors can sometimes make day-to-day life at work unbearable. They may overtly mistreat a worker, make distasteful ageist jokes at their expense and otherwise engage in abusive conduct Other employees may target a worker because of their age. If the company fails to act in those circumstances, the worker may have grounds to allege that the company engaged in age discrimination.
Denying opportunities to older workers
It is surprisingly common for companies to stop promoting workers once they reach a certain age. Despite the experience and skills that workers acquire with long-term career development, employers may overlook them in favor of younger workers. Female employees, in particular, may find that their advancement opportunities seem to dry up in their 40s and 50s.
Finding excuses to terminate older workers
The longer workers stay with the same company, the more they may earn. Even if they only ever receive cost-of-living wage increases, a worker who has been with the company for decades probably makes substantially more than a new hire in a similar position. Companies may also worry that the medical issues often associated with advanced age might lead to increased insurance claims and therefore higher costs to provide medical coverage.
Companies may find pretextual excuses to terminate older workers. They may return negative performance reviews despite the worker maintaining the same standard of job performance. They might start writing the worker up for minor issues, or may include numerous older employees in a major layoff.
Workers should not have to tolerate workplace misconduct because of their age. Pursuing an age discrimination lawsuit can sometimes help workers address the harm caused by employers who discriminate against older workers or those that ignore age-related harassment.
