Seniors Site

Your Rights Against Age Discrimination

The only thing that could save you from age discrimination and prevent abuse from happening to you is that if you arm yourself with proper knowledge and information about age discrimination. What pains me is when I hear stories from my senior friends telling me about how they lost their jobs or how they were not able to land a job they really wanted just because of their age. The company didn’t even consider the experience and expertise these old people have, they just flat out rejected them.

First off, there is a law that is designed to protect seniors against age discrimination in terms of employment. If you have time, read more about it here: Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This clearly outlines your rights as a senior in a workplace and what other things the law cannot protect you from. To be more specific, the law covers people 40 years old and above. Please take note of the age as there really is age discrimination within the 40s age group even if that number isn’t even too old to begin with.

In this post, I will try to summarize what was written on the ADEA but like I said, it is better to read the link if you have time just so if I missed a point and you found yourself in that certain situation, you would know what to do.

First off, your boss or the company cannot just fire you because of your age, nor refuse to hire you especially if you are qualified for the job. They also cannot limit your activities as an employee or separate you from the younger ones without a valid reason other than your age. Best of all, your wage shouldn’t be reduced just because you’re old. You should be paid accordingly.

When looking for a job, ADEA clearly stated that job ads shouldn’t mention age or age bracket as preference. As for employment agencies, they cannot refuse to refer you for employment or classify your application according to your age.

Now if you are a member of a labor organization, the org cannot just expel you or limit and classify your membership because of age. You shouldn’t be deprived of employment opportunities by your organization in any way in terms of age.

More importantly, if you found yourself filing charges against your employer or helping someone with their age-related cases against your employer, the employer as well as the company cannot harass you or discriminate you in any way.