Unfortunately, age discrimination is a regular occurrence in American workplaces despite its illegality. If you're someone 40 and older looking for a position, your job rejection might be due to faulty? perceptions. Some younger managers prefer to hire workers closer in age to them, because they are perceived as having a similar mindset and possessing the tech-savvy skills necessary to succeed in the contemporary workplace environment. Suing and winning is difficult, but not impossible.
Youthful Recruiting
To win a lawsuit, you must prove the employer intentionally uses age discrimination in its hiring practices. Of course, no company says outright, "We only hire younger workers." However, if you find a company that only hires entry-level workers or just recruits on college campuses, you might have a case against the firm.
A lawsuit brought against PricewaterhouseCoopers by a 53-year-old accountant alleges the huge accounting firm purposefully hires only recent college graduates and filters applicants by age during the hiring process. The average age of workers at PwC is 27, whereas the median age of accountants in America is 43. The company also allegedly forces partners to retire by age 60. PwC says the age discrimination law doesn't apply to hiring decisions. As of 2017, the lawsuit is in federal court in San Francisco.
Less-Qualified Applicants
When a less-qualified applicant gets the job over an older worker, this could be a sign of unlawful discrimination. For example, if the job posting says the open position requires a master's degree but the person hired has a bachelor's degree, you may find a legitimate reason for a lawsuit. The lone difficulty is that you must find out whom the firm hired for this type of lawsuit to come to fruition.
Minimal Experience
When an employer hires someone with minimal experience, that may indicate job discrimination as well. In a case against R.J. Reynolds, recruiters were allegedly told to avoid hiring people who had between eight and 10 years of sales experience. As a result, just 19 positions out of 1,000 went to people over the age of 40, according to a news piece by NPR.
Whistleblowing
Another way you may file and win a lawsuit is if someone in human resources blows the whistle on the offending firm. Although rare, this could happen through leaked documents. You might also find out if there are any lawsuits against a certain company that seems similar to what's happening in your position.
Difficulty
The most obvious difficulty is that you must prove that age discrimination was the sole reason for your job rejection. A company would have to admit to this, and you'd have to prove that the company stated this fact. Plus, in some states, age discrimination laws may only pertain to current employees as opposed to hiring practices.
Despite the lack of lawsuits facing employers, a survey from AARP in 2013 said that 64 percent of workers between the ages of 45 and 74 witnessed or personally experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Even though millennials continue to take over the labor force, 18.8 percent of workers are 65 and older.
Age discrimination is illegal, but proving a case in court is often difficult. You may find it easier to try to mitigate ageism by updating your skills to become a top candidate in your field.
Photo courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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