Have you ever had the experience of noticing that the people around you at the office were getting younger and younger? The longer you stay in your career, the more chance there will be of something like this happening to you. You might even become the oldest one at work.
Normally, this shouldn’t be a problem. After all, the longer you’ve been in your career, the more experienced and the better at your job you become. Nevertheless, some older workers could find that their ages become a serious problem for their careers. Fortunately, if you’re at least 40 years of age, you might be able to protect yourself from age discrimination at work.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers are are 40 years of age and up from age discrimination on the job. Here’s what this powerful federal law prohibits:
— Employers cannot discriminate against employees on the basis of age during any stage of the employment process. This means that employers cannot advertise jobs in a way to target workers who are under the age of 40 while attempting to exclude those aged 40 and up. Furthermore, employers cannot make hiring and firing decisions on the basis of a worker’s age, nor can they make decisions about promotions, pay, job benefits and raises based on age.
— When a company is downsizing, it cannot target the older sections of its workforce for layoffs.
— Under the ADEA, employers cannot force or encourage older employees to go into early retirement.
— Employers cannot harass or make rude remarks about older employees.
— Employers cannot retaliate against an employee who complains about age discrimination.
If your employer or potential employer discriminated against you on the basis of your age, you may have the ability to seek justice in court. In some cases, you might even be able to get your job back if you lost it due to age discrimination. Victims of age discrimination can learn more about their legal rights by visiting our website now.