According to the Pew Research Center, there are currently 74.9 million individuals in the U.S. who are age 51 to 69. Individuals in this age demographic are widely referred to as the baby boomer generation and, for at least the next decade, this generation is expected to reign as the most populous age group. Many of these men and women are still working and need to work. The problem, many say is that they are increasingly encountering acts of age discrimination and being forced to retire prematurely.
While U.S. workers can begin to collect Social Security at age 62, for both financial and personal reasons, many continue to work well past this age. In fact, a survey by Transamerica Center for Retirement Services revealed that 82 percent of “workers age 60 or older expect to keep working past age 65.” Doing so, however, often comes at a price as, according to a 2013 study by the American Association for Retired Persons, “two-thirds of workers between 45 and 74 had seen or experienced age discrimination on the job.”
Passed in 1967, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, applies to employers with 20 or more employees and protects workers age 40 and older from suffering acts of discrimination based on their age. Despite laws against age discrimination, during 2014, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received more than 20,500 complaints from older workers.
While laws and protections against age discrimination exist, proving that an employer discriminated against an employee or prospective employee due to his or her age can be difficult. This is particularly true when it comes to claims of age discrimination during the hiring process.
Los Angeles area workers, who believe they are or have been the subjects of age discrimination, would be wise to document any all such incidences and discuss their case with an attorney.
Source: CNBC.com, “Could age discrimination derail your retirement plans?,” Tom Anderson, May 6, 2015