Q. Who is covered by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA)?
A. The ADEA covers all employers with 20 employees or more and applies to all employees and job applicants aged 40 or over.
Q. What employment actions are prohibited by the ADEA?
A. The ADEA prohibits age discrimination in any term or condition of employment, including:
- Recruitment, job advertisements, testing, and hiring
- Discipline and firing
- Layoffs and recalls
- Compensation and benefits
- Job assignments or classifications
- Transfers and promotions
- Training opportunities
- Retirement plans and disability leave
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Q. Can you force an employee to retire?
A. In most cases, the answer is “no.” The ADEA prohibits employers from mandating a specific retirement age, except in rare cases such as with airline pilots, air traffic controllers, and certain public safety employees like police and firefighters. In these cases, the law recognizes that age might be a legitimate job qualification that is reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the employer’s business.
Q. Who investigates age discrimination complaints?
A. The ADEA claims are investigated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). If the EEOC determines that a claim is legitimate, the agency will try to negotiate a settlement with the employer. If a settlement cannot be reached, the EEOC can go to federal district court and sue on behalf of the employee or job applicant, or it can allow the individual to take his or her own case to court.
Q. What kind of evidence helps employees win age discrimination cases?
A. Winning evidence varies from case to case, but generally, employees have been successful in age discrimination cases when:
- The employee can show that he or she has been with an organization for a long time and has had good performance reviews during that time and a clean disciplinary record but nevertheless was targeted for some kind of negative employment action.
- The employee is fired and can prove that he or she was disciplined, transferred to a less desirable job, given a poor performance review, or subjected to some other negative employment action shortly before termination.
- A younger worker is selected for a job, given the promotion, or in some other way is treated more favorably than an older worker.
- The employer can’t provide a specific reason for negative employment decisions affecting an older worker.
- There is testimony showing that a supervisor or manager has expressed an age bias.
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