Law Against Age Discrimination

Discussion in 'Senior Employment' started by Corie Henson, Jun 12, 2016.

  1. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    In the news is the impending approval of the bill against age discrimination for employment. That means anyone can apply for a job that he is capable of regardless of age. As of now, people at age 40 has a slimmer chance of getting a job mainly because of the age. Obviously, the seniors who are retirees have no place in the work force anymore mainly due to the age.

    But there is a cold reception to that proposed bill against age discrimination because the public do not believe that companies would follow such a law. It is the culture here to discriminate aged people and it is difficult to change that even by a law. I don't k now why seniors are given that treatment when it comes to employment. The standard retirement age here is 60 and that is still young. Being jobless at that age is like ruining the life of the retiree. It's good if the retirement pay is substantial as to last for 30 years or so but normally retirement benefits usually is good for 5 to 10 years of expenses only.
     
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  2. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Age discrimination is very valid in the employment community. Unfortunately, nothing really can be done about it. It hit me, as well as........no college degree and/or no certificate. Bottom line is, "it's just the way it is!".

    A lot of companies hold back on hiring Seniors due to the possibility of upcoming health problems. In some ways, my wife, at her age of later 60's, got pretty lucky getting a full-time job, plus her Bachelors Degree is almost 20 yrs. old. She had an Employment Agency Manager tell her that it was good that she has the degree, but that the classes she took to get it, are way outdated. Fortunately, she has taken OJT seminars to help her along........and those were recognized by her now employer.
     
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  3. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    It seems there are always ways around this type of laws. As @Cody Fousnaugh mentioned, employers can say the degree or classes taken to earn the degree are irrelevant these days. Personally, I think (and have thought for many years) that we need to work on the lack of respect given to middle aged and elderly persons, because they have a lot to offer. Many younger people these days rush right into things, without the benefit of having learned patience or to treat others with respect. They often don't understand that things are the way they are (or the way they used to be) because those methods are tried and true, and work. It used to be taught that the customers are always right, but it seems these days, many companies have no idea of where the butter comes from (as in their bread being buttered), and disrespect their customers, then wonder why those customers go elsewhere.
     
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  4. This thread might be a good place to toss in this question:

    A local told me the company called Best Buy has a policy on this- that they will not hire anyone over 26 yrs old, and if an employee reaches his/her 26th birthday they're immediately laid off.
    Does anyone know if this is true or not? Just curious.
     
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  5. Chris Ladewig

    Chris Ladewig Veteran Member
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    Where I work they favor the college kids with the best jobs and hours but it is the few of us older more dependable people they have to call in to cover when the younger ones call out for the weekends and holidays when the weather is nice. For the most part older people have a much stronger work ethic.
     
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  6. Kitty Carmel

    Kitty Carmel Veteran Member
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    Certainly there is age discrimination. I'm sure it was used against me on my last job interview. However it's about impossible to prove. Any employer could say anything about why they hired someone else.

    It has me a bit worried. I'm self supporting and my job is getting harder and harder for me to do.
     
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  7. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    There was a time when prospective employers might let applicants know why they weren't chosen, since they could use that information to improve on subsequent interviews. But with litigation the way it is now, it's recommended that they give no information whatsoever.
     
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  8. Amie Ar

    Amie Ar Veteran Member
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    Discrimination was such a very unjust and abusive orientation that people must get rid of. Being judgmental is a very negative trait that should be thrown out of a person's system of thinking and reasoning. Discrimination only lead to hatred, anger and to some extent social crimes. Let us not forget that we live in a diverse world where we breathe the same air, share the same sunshine and walk in the face of the only place we call home - Earth.
     
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  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Being judgmental is the human condition, I think. Discernment is a good thing, and that involves judgement. The problems have to do with what you're basing your judgement on. Some may disagree, but I see very few situations in which it would be reasonable to judge someone according to skin coloration or race.

    But religion is another matter, and there it just depends on what I intend to do with my judgement. As an employer, I wouldn't refuse to hire someone based on their religion, or lack of a religion, for that matter. Even then, it would depend on what the job was. I do believe that a Christian church or school should be able to discriminate against non-Christians, since Christianity is part of the job. The same would apply, of course, to any other religion. But if a Christian owns a grocery store, I don't see any reasonable justification for hiring only Christians to work at the grocery store.

    As a Christian parent, I wouldn't hire someone in a position of authority or influence over my child who did not share my values, which is why I wouldn't enroll my child in a public school or hire an evangelistic atheist to watch over my child, but when I hire someone to do work on my attic, I don't care what religion they are.

    As the owner of an ambulance company, I have hired people of a number of different religions, those who were not religious at all, and even a scattering of gay people, which were all things that I learned about them later because I didn't ask about such things during the employment interview. I would have hired them anyhow because my concern was over their ability to perform the job that I was hiring them for. But if I owned a Christian school, I wouldn't have hired some of these people.

    As a Christian, I believe that homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord, but the Bible doesn't tell me that they should be denied work or a place to live, or that it was my obligation to be rude to them. Thus, for most purposes, I don't care. If I had a house to rent, I'd rent to them, and if I had a job to do, I'd hire them if they were able to do the job. However, if I had a young son, I wouldn't allow him to become a member of a youth group that was led by a gay person. I understand that not every gay man is a pedophile, although some of them are and, more importantly, I wouldn't want my son to be confused about values. He can make his own decisions when he grows up but as long as he is young, there are people and situations that I would keep him away from as much as I can.

    As for age discrimination, the subject of this thread, I can surely understand why an employer might discriminate against people on the basis of age. As someone who is nearing the age of sixty-five, I don't particularly like the idea that I wouldn't be able to go out and get a job if I wanted one, but I can understand it. Fortunately, I don't need one, but options are always nice to have and, as seniors, our options are limited.

    I think there are jobs in which a senior is better qualified, and I would hope that employers might recognize these. Although I wasn't yet a senior when I began my career in emergency medical services, I was thirty when I first became an EMT, whereas most people were entering the profession just out of high school. At thirty, that was a distinct advantage. Although I was no more experienced in the job as the 18 year-olds who were in my EMT class, it was easier for me to find work, and I was more apt to be hired at a higher level, due to the perception of greater maturity and responsibility. My first full-time job in EMS was as the director of a city service, for example, although I had only been a paramedic for a couple of months.

    At thirty, I had an advantage over those who were eighteen. At sixty, age starts to become a disadvantage in many situations.

    Older people tend to have more medical problems so, if the job includes medical insurance, there is that, as well as having to pay someone else overtime to cover for lost work time. Plus, in jobs that require learning how to do something new, an employer might rather spend the more unproductive training time on someone who might be with them for several years than on someone who will be looking at a Social Security check in a few years.

    Of course, we're also susceptible to physical limitations as we grow older. Depending on the job, that can be a concern.

    Wages and benefits make up a large part of an employer's overhead so it's only reasonable for us to expect that their hiring choices will be discriminatory. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, it's there.

    Probably our job will be to make sure that potential employers are aware of the advantages that we can bring, as well. I know several older people who once held much higher-paying jobs who are working at fast food places to supplement their Social Security payments, and these employers prefer hiring an older person to hiring someone just out of high school. They usually pay them more, and they are more likely to advance.

    As a senior, what can you bring to the table when it comes to an employment decision, and do the positives offset the potential negatives? I think that's what we're actually dealing with.
     
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  10. Corie Henson

    Corie Henson Veteran Member
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    I think that's a good reason for companies to avoid hiring seniors. We cannot deny the fact that we have more health issues than the young ones and it cannot be avoided sometimes. It's just sad that employment for seniors here is practically nil because of the traditional discrimination. It may be a part of our culture not to hire workers who are more than 40 years old.

    My father-in-law migrated to the US when he was 66 years old on the strength of his war service during the second world war. After his naturalization, we were surprised to know that he immediately got a job and was even sent on a 2-day training on how to handle the computer. He worked until he was 80. That's quite impossible to happen here.
     
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