by Dawn Hawkins

Created on: May 24, 2010

There are laws about age discrimination in the workplace. As human resources personnel, you should know the laws governing age discrimination so that you can avoid allowing it to happen in your work place. Prevention is the key to avoiding law suits that could cost your company millions of dollars. Don’t get caught in the traps. Take steps to prevent age discrimination in your business today.

Here are some steps you can take to prevent age discrimination in your business:

Hiring

It is important not to look at age when hiring. Though you can’t legally ask someone their age on an application, asking the birth date will determine the age of a person that is applying to your company. This is good for making sure you aren’t wasting your time with someone who is too young to work for your company, it should never be looked at to discriminate against someone because they are too old. It is ridiculous to do so in any case, but the fact is, it is against the law to do it. Do not ever overlook someone that is applying for a job simply because you view them as too old to work for you.

Treatment by Management

Management should be well aware of all the discrimination laws about age discrimination. When someone is hired to work for your company, no matter what their age, they should never be treated poorly by the management just because they are older. It is also important to note that you can’t discriminate against someone you view as too young to be promoted. There is can be no age requirement when filling positions with employees that are already on your payroll. You are taking a big chance when you discriminate against your employees in this manner. Make sure that management is trained to recognize what age discrimination is so that they don’t make the mistake of doing it. As human resources, it is your duty to make sure that management follows the guidelines.

Treatment by Employees

Train the entire company’s employee how to prevent age discrimination in your workplace. The business that you work for could be put in serious jeopardy if another employee treats someone differently simply because of their age. Making fun of someone because they are older or too young in their eyes can cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is a mistake that your business cannot afford. There are great training videos for this purpose. Make sure the employees under your charge are well versed in what age discrimination is and how to avoid doing it.

These are the best steps you can take to prevent age discrimination in your business.  Even the smallest of things can cause an employee to feel as though they are being discriminated against because of their age. It is against the law and you have to make sure that your business is prepared to make every effort to avoid the situation. The company is in business because they want to make money. That can’t happen if it is constantly being sued by individuals who feel they have been treated differently because of their age.

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