Being discriminated against in your workplace due to your age is illegal, and yet there are many things that happen every day that falls under the category of age discrimination Attorneys in Los Angeles frequently represent clients who didn’t even realize that they were being discriminated against for years. Here are things that count as age discrimination that you may not have realized you’ve been subjected to:
- Being asked if or when you are going to retire, even in a joking manner.
- Being forced to retire or being told you will be fired if you don’t retire.
- Being passed over for promotions or big projects because the company wants to promote a “more youthful image” or wants to draw in “more young blood”.
- Not getting hired for a job when you are more qualified than the younger person who was hired.
- Being laid off because you have a higher salary than younger workers.
- Not being given new training and growth opportunities that your younger coworkers are routinely offered.
- Getting undeserved poor performance reviews to force you to retire.
- Many of these things are considered very minor or “just the way things are”, but they still count as discrimination.
What Laws Protect Older Workers?
There are many laws that protect older workers, but the most important is the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act of 1990. This is a federal law that prevents employers from denying their older employees from any benefits that younger employees get. The only way that employers are allowed to reduce benefits for older employees is if all their employees are also having their benefits reduced at the same rate.
There is also another law called the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 that prevents employees over the age of 40 from being discriminated against due to their age. However, the law only applies to employers with more than 20 employees. This is important for employees who work for very small businesses to understand – there are fewer protections for older employees of small companies. However, that doesn’t mean you can’t still prove an age discrimination case if you have the best age discrimination attorneys in Los Angeles by your side.
At the Law Offices of Jual F. Reyes, we are experienced in helping older employees fight back against forced retirement and micro-discrimination. Contact our toll-free number to learn more at (877) 242-4410.
