The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 prohibited employers from discriminating against candidates for employment or promotions based on their age. And yet in a study conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), 61% of people over age 45 have either witnessed or personally been affected by age discrimination in the workplace. If any of the following is happening to you then it is possible that your employer has a bias against you because of your age.
While discriminating is illegal, there are many myths that managers still believe and practice that motivate them to find sneaky ways to get rid of older employees. Here are changes in behavior to make note of and document if you see them happening.
Criticism Becomes Harsher
If you have received great reviews and all of a sudden have been getting poorer reviews, more feedback that is a lot more critical than it has been, or have been placed on any sort of disciplinary status, then your managers might have an age bias against you. Have other people made the same mistake and gotten the same consequences? Gather all assessments and forms of written feedback over the years, including emails, to use to demonstrate the new trend.
Being Overlooked, Left Out, or Other Separated
Are you being left out of emails, meetings, and the loop entirely? Have you noticed that you have a lighter workload than before, or aren’t assigned to as many projects? Or have you been offered to work from home, away from the office where all the major decisions happen? Then your managers may be trying to phase you and others your age out slowly while easing in a fresh batch of new employees or promotions.
Leaving you out also means that you can’t know enough to make appropriate and timely responses to things you used to be made aware of. This is a manipulative technique to discredit older employees by making them appear aloof, disorganized, and not part of the team. A manager can use that to justify letting someone go based on performance rather than age, even though the manager was carefully orchestrating the whole thing.
New Person, New Name
If you were laid off or let go and were told that the reason was because the company was going in a different direction and the position was removed, only to have the name changed and the position given to a younger person, then you can use the similar responsibilities and roles as evidence to show age discrimination.
Being Passed Up For a Promotion
This one will be a lot easier to prove if there is more than one person making this claim, but sometimes it is plain to see that someone much younger and much less qualified, if qualified at all, has been given a promotion over an older, more experienced person.
Other Types of Discrimination
It is important that if you claim you are being discriminated against because of your age that you have evidence that points in that direction, rather than prejudice because of your race or sex. You could be facing more than one type of discrimination, though.
Age discrimination is the cause of a lot of stress and fear about the future. A tough, experienced attorney in Dallas, such as the ones at Thorpe & Hatcher LLP, will listen to you and fight for your rights.
