What do Human Resources Managers Need to Know about Age Discrimination Laws?
Human resources managers need to be familiar with federal age discrimination laws in order to make the right HR decisions, avoid potential lawsuits and keep their company legally compliant.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 is the primary anti-discrimination law concerning age and applies to employers with more than 20 workers. First, it prohibits age related discrimination during hiring, giving promotions and termination of employment. For example, employers tend to avoid hiring older workers because they incorrectly assume that they work slowly and are difficult to train. During a job interview, HR managers are prohibited from asking a job candidate their age. However, many HR managers simply calculate a job candidates’ age based on their high school or college graduation year. HR managers need to know the dates of graduation in order to ensure that the candidate doesn’t have any major unemployment gaps. Keep in mind that the ADEA prohibits placing age limitations or preferences in job ads.
The ADEA prohibits denying older employees promotions or targeting them during layoffs. In fact, many employers prefer to lay off older employees because they feel they have served their purpose and that younger employees will contribute more to the company. Nevertheless, all official company decisions must be made based on the candidates’ qualifications. HR documentation must clearly show how hiring, promotion and termination decisions were made solely according to employee performance. For example, there are three final candidates for a senior marketing position that requires advanced computer skills. The first candidate is over 40 and openly states that they always delegate computer tasks to subordinates. The second candidate is also over 40 and has adequate computer skills. The third candidate is under 40 and has excellent computer skills. The HR manager should seriously consider the second two candidates and clearly demonstrate in HR documentation that the final hiring decision was based only on skills and core competencies.
The ADEA and Employee Benefits
In 1990, Congress passed the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA). This act amended the ADEA to explicitly prohibit employers from denying benefits to older employees. At this time, lawmakers openly recognized that benefit costs for senior workers is higher than the identical benefit costs for younger workers. For example, insurance coverage costs will naturally be higher for older workers, especially among certain demographic groups that have a propensity for certain diseases or health related problems. As a result, the amended ADEA allows employers to reduce benefits based on age, but only if the cost of delivering the reduced benefits to older workers is no less than the cost of delivering the same benefits to younger workers. Finally, the ADEA was amended in 1986 to prohibit mandatory retirement for most business sectors.
Human resource managers should ensure that all business decisions are made without any basis or reference to an individual’s age. Age discrimination laws are important pieces of legislation that protect older workers and ensure a nondiscriminatory work environment.
