Age Discrimination In Employment Act Of 1967

Considerations When Downsizing The euphemism, downsizing describes the involuntary termination of a number of employees based on an employer’s decision to reduce staff or to cease operations all together (Walsh, 2013). Employers are often faced with tough decisions to reduce staff in response to many different factors. There are important legal issues that need to be considered as they will impact business owners if not addressed.
Proper planning for a reduction in force can save an organization from unlawfully terminating employees. Most private-sector, non-union employees are covered under the employment at will with exceptions arrangement which starts with pure employment at will (an employee without a written employment contract
“It is illegal for an employer to discriminate against a job applicant because of his or her race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information” (EEOC Website). One particular law for consideration when it comes to downsizing a company is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA). The ADEA was introduced to make it unlawful to discriminate or base employment decisions on the age of an individual. This law protects workers who are 40 or older and also makes it illegal to retaliate against a person because the person complained about discrimination, filed a charge of discrimination, or participated in an employment discrimination investigation or lawsuit (Walsh, 2013). This law applies to employers with 20 or more employees. Discrimination based on age can be subtle or blatant actions such as refusing to hire or promote older candidates, biased comments or comparisons to younger workers, or
A system that rates the employees by the least amount of experience or seniority may also be effective in avoiding age discrimination. When offering a severance with a waiver of the right to sue the company for age discrimination or other legal claims is a tool often used by companies. When a company is drafting their severance agreement with legal counsel, the first question is whether or not the employee is over the age of 40. There is a strict timeline to follow to get a valid release of age discrimination claims. An employee must be offered consideration for above and beyond anything they are already entitled to, oftentimes a cash payout, and for employees over 40, they must receive 45 days to consider the