Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)
What Is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act?
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) is a federal law that prohibits employers from discriminating against applicants and employees who are 40 years and older. The ADEA applies to private employers with 20 or more employees, state and local governments, employment agencies, labor organizations, and the federal government.
The History of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The ADEA was passed in 1967 and originally protected workers between 40 and 65 years of age. The law was meant to prevent employers from using arbitrary age limits to make staffing decisions and, instead, evaluate older employees only on their abilities.
In 1986, the ADEA was amended to eliminate the upper age cap, thus protecting employees who are 40 or older. In 1990, Congress passed the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. This amendment makes it illegal for employers to determine employee benefits based on age. It also protects older employees from being pressured into signing legal waivers that would prohibit them from suing for age discrimination.
Which Kinds of Job Activities Are Protected Under ADEA?
The ADEA forbids discrimination in any phase of the employment relationship, including but not limited to:
- Job advertisements
- Interviewing
- Hiring
- Compensation
- Benefits
- Training
- Job assignments
- Promotions
- Layoffs
- Termination
- Retirement
- Retaliation
Examples of Discrimination Under ADEA
Workplace age discrimination can occur in both overt and subtle ways. Here are some examples of direct age discrimination:
- Including age limits in job postings without a legal reason
- Asking employees how old they are during the interview process
- Pressuring older employees to retire
- Laying off older employees and keeping younger workers with less seniority and less experience
Indirect age discrimination occurs when an employer establishes a seemingly neutral policy that applies to all employees but negatively impacts older employees more. This might look like:
- Offering professional development opportunities only to junior employees
- Requiring proficiency in the latest software programs without providing training to existing employees
- Mandating physical fitness tests that aren’t relevant to the job
Harassment in this context refers to when an employee is often subjected to aggressive or offensive behavior due to their age, resulting in a hostile work environment. Some examples include:
- Younger colleagues making offensive comments about a colleague’s age.
- Supervisors reprimanding older employees for mistakes that younger employees usually get away with.
- Excluding older employees from professional and social gatherings like brainstorms or happy hours because of their age.
Retaliation occurs when an employee suffers unfair consequences for reporting age discrimination or participating in an investigation or complaint process regarding age discrimination. This might look like:
- An older employee being demoted for filing an age discrimination complaint.
- Another employee being given undesirable work assignments after serving as a witness for an older employee who filed an age discrimination complaint.
What Has to Be Proven in a Claim Under ADEA?
To establish an age discrimination claim, the plaintiff (the employee or applicant) must prove:
- They are 40 or older.
- They suffered an adverse employment action (e.g., they were fired or not hired).
- They were qualified for the position they held (or applied for) at the time of the employer’s adverse action.
- The employer’s adverse action was due to their age (e.g., they were fired for mistakes that younger employees typically aren’t punished for, or they weren’t hired, but a younger applicant with the same qualifications was hired).
However, proving these four criteria doesn’t guarantee the employee or applicant will win their case. The employer will then have a chance to provide a legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for their adverse action. For example, they may claim they fired the employee for stealing money or resources from the company.
In this case, the burden shifts back to the plaintiff to prove that the employer’s reason is a pretext for age discrimination.