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Is age discrimination increasing in the American workplace?

Results so far:

Yes
88% 281 votes Total: 318 votes
No
12% 37 votes

Yes

by Harriet Emerson

Created on: May 07, 2009

Age discrimination isn't simply increasing; it's growing by leaps and bounds. No one knows how many people face age discrimination but it is notoriously under reported. Complaints filed is one indicator. And according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, 2008 age discrimination complaints were up 30 percent over the year before.

In 2007, job bias incidents climbed 9 percent over the previous year. Age discrimination complaints jumped 15 percent, followed closely by discrimination based on disability. What category saw the steepest increase? Retaliation leapt 18 percent. Race remains the most frequent reason for discrimination complaints. Most cases involved layoffs.

Every day brings more layoffs. According to NowPublic.com, a "Tech & Biz" web site, almost 2 million jobs were lost in the last four months of 2008, making last year " . . . the worst year for layoffs and job losses in the United States since World War II and 2009 is expected to be even more devastating."

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) surveyed 1500 workers aged 45 to 75 and 60 percent reported they had either seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace.

Bureau of Labor statistics show that workers over 45 constitute a "disproportionate share of the long-term unemployed" people out of work for six months or longer. When experienced workers land a job, it is usually at much lower pay than previously.

Sixty-four percent of respondents in the 2007 AARP study cited "current financial need" as their primary reason for working or seeking work. And this study was conducted before the steep downturn in the economy forced millions to delay retirement or return to the workforce. Within a few months, many Americans lost a quarter to a half of the life savings they expected to support them in later years.

It wasn't until the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) that individuals over 40 had any legal protection against employment discrimination based on age. ADEA protections apply to both applicants and employees of employers with 20 or more employees, including state and local governments and the federal government; employment agencies and labor organizations.

Also, according to the ADEA: "It is also unlawful to retaliate against an individual for opposing employment practices that discriminate based on age or for filing an age discrimination charge, testifying, or participating in any way in an investigation, proceeding, or litigation under the ADEA."

This may account for the fact that, as noted above, retaliation is now second only to race as a reason for discrimination complaints. And it's not unusual for individuals to face discrimination based on sex and/or race and later age.

Devastating is a word that describes the impact discrimination has on individuals. It is stressful, humiliating and difficult to prove and it bleeds into every aspect of a person's life.


Those who choose to fight face great expenses and poor odds. Individuals enter a David and Goliath battle, out-gunned by corporate lawyers. The emotional toll on the individual and his or her family is incalculable.

Discrimination ranges from ignorant and insensitive to ugly and malicious. Despite improvements, the impact on individuals is as traumatic as it was before we supposedly had legal protection.

The tragedy is that more than 40 years after this country enacted both the ADEA and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, discrimination not only runs rampant but also is still widely accepted with a wink and a nod. Lack of real enforcement makes the federal government complicit.

Age discrimination complaints will grow as the population ages. According to AARP, by 2016, more than a third of the US population will be 55 and over. In a youth centered culture, experience, skill and wisdom often mean less than gray hair or wrinkles.

Learn more about this author, Harriet Emerson.
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No

by Author Name Withheld 126

Created on: May 09, 2009

I am really sick of hearing the word discrimination. If you promote and protect one person or group, then you are discriminating against the other. There is a very key question to be drawn from that statement. Why is it fine on one end and not the other?

I'm sick of just about everything in life because of that word. It seems to be just one big excuse to discriminate against me. I see the whole past generation with these houses, decent jobs, marriages, and American dream. I don't care how bad they messed up their lives, they had a fair shot at it anyway. I find that they are crying about bad investments. I see that they lost all their retirement funds. I see them working at every possible job way past their prime.

You know what? I honestly have no respect for them. They did it to themselves and now they want the younger generation to pay the price for them. They want us to pay their social security. They want us to work longer and never retire. They want us to go without a job a little longer. We deserve a chance too. I have wasted almost ten years working and waiting for an opportunity that is stable and long term because of this attitude they have.

Every chance to move up or get more money, these people won't go away. They are greedy and ignorant. Either they want more riches upon retirement, a better lifestyle now, or they already blew all their excess and want sympathy. It would be fine if we had anything down here, but most of us have jack. No house, no retirement fund started, and no hope by age thirty. I end up just wishing the old bastards would die, let alone wonder if they are discriminated against.

Does this idea of age discrimination ever end up directed toward the youth? I see jobs turn down employees all the time because of lack of experience. In fact, I have been turned down for many jobs because I didn't have experience that I could have only had from having worked there prior. That paradox isn't even considered remotely discrimination. What is the point of a society? Is it to promote the feeble and aging, so that the society dies a glamorous death? I thought that it was to promote the young and secure a brighter future.

You give me a WWII vet and they can have my place in line any day. I have only respect for them, but that is because of their attitude. They worked hard for us. They care about the country and the youth. They are the ones that helped most of the current older citizens get ahead. These are the same people who have no respect in return. They were given everything that you could ask for in a country and they wasted it all away for us.

Not only that, they never actually grew up. I find myself and most thirty-somethings ending up being the adults for the two surrounding generations of ignorant morons. I don't care if you agree or not. If you don't fit that description, you probably understand and relate. They spawned the whole user friendly movement. Everything has to be straight forward for them or they give up because it was always handed to them. I have to deal with my mother and grandmother as they throw tantrums and lack all reasoning or self control like small children.

What is sad is that this is common to that generation. They were taught that opinions mattered and that logical analysis and science mean nothing. These are the people who we need in any job? Most of them learned one specialty in life and know nothing about the entire rest of the world around them. How can you discriminate against them? We are lucky to still have jobs and a country after letting them manage things and work at all. As you see, that luck might to running out soon. If anything, we need to cut our losses before it is actually too late and get them moved right along.

Sure, I could write a good article. I could spent more time, but the same idiots are on here rating them. They miss half my points, connections, and work anyway. I don't expect ratings, I just like knowing my voice is heard. The people who matter to me will read it and maybe find inspiration. That is all I care about with any of my writing anymore.

For the same reasons given in my ranting, I gave up on anything else. It doesn't matter how much qualification you have as a writer. Apparently, these people know and have the right/qualification to rate it and make money too. Frankly that goes for all who complain and moan about discrimination. You might get the sympathy of those in charge, but you will not find an easy and gentle road any longer from those you walk upon.

Learn more about this author, Author Name Withheld 126.
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