Legal News

As the Economy Falls, Age-Discrimination Claims Go Up

By Ashby Jones

Laid-off workers over 40, it turns out, aren’t just sitting back, accepting their laid-off fates and waiting for those Social Security checks to come in. No sir, they’re increasingly taking matters into their own hands . . . and suing, claiming age-discrimination. Click here for the WSJ story.

According to the story, figures scheduled for release later this week by the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that age-discrimination allegations by employees are at a record high, jumping 29% to 24,600 filed in the year ended Sept. 30, up from 19,103 in 2007. While overall employment discrimination complaints are also at a record high — up 15% to 95,402 complaints — the most dramatic increase was in the age-related complaints, the EEOC said.

So what’s going on here? Laid-off older workers may be taking more legal action to recover their jobs or lost wages because it’s harder for them than younger workers to find new employment, some researchers say. Also, lawyers say recent legal developments make it easier for employees to allege age bias.

It’s also possible that companies are, well, acting illegally as “the senior staffers are generally the highest paid and have the most lucrative benefits,” says David Grinberg, spokesman for the EEOC.

On the one hand, employment lawyers say age discrimination can be hard to prove, particularly these days, when so many people of all ages are getting the ax. On the other, these types of cases are easier to bring now than they used to be. In 2005, the Supreme Court helped broaden the interpretation of age discrimination to include cases in which there is no evidence of intentional discrimination. Using this tactic, workers need to show only that older workers were disproportionately affected by their employer’s decision.

According to the story, during a recent morning in Norton, Mass., participants at an unemployment support group at Trinitarian Congregational Church were mostly over 55. None had filed complaints about age bias, but many said they had received subtle clues from employers that age matters.

“No one ever says, ‘You’re old; we don’t want you.’ They say, ‘This may require some lifting. Are you capable?’ ” said Paul Westgate, who’s 58 and says he was laid off from his job as repairman at an Attleboro, Mass., plant that makes manufacturing equipment. The questions make little sense to him, because in his field, ladders and lifting are “almost a thing of the past,” and the job is primarily technically oriented, he said, adding, “I can still do my thing.” He says, “They want experience, but they want an experienced 30-year-old.”

LB readers, anyone experienced anything similar? Are employers discriminating against older workers or are older folks just running to the courthouse anytime a company swings the ax?

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 11, 2009 (boomark / email).