Age-Based Discrimination Essay

Posted: January 15th, 2023

Age-Based Discrimination Essay

The discrimination case under review is the concern about age-based discrimination. Jones (2007) reports on the issue by explaining that although workers are protected against age-based discrimination, employers continue to engage in such activities thereby attracting costs, time and distraction as part of litigating the violations. This was the case for Sidley Austin LLP that was forced to settle an age-discrimination lawsuit by paying 32 lawyers $27.5 million as compensation for demoting them on the basis of age. To be more precise, workers are protected by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act that bars employment from adversely changing employment status, reducing compensation, retiring, expelling, or termination workers because of age. Also, the legislation prohibits employers from having either formal or informal policies requiring workers to seek permission for employment purposes or that change the employment terms once they have reached a certain age (Jones, 2007). Despite the presence of legislation protecting works against age bias, the practice continues among employers. Age-Based Discrimination Essay

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

In fact, employers seeking to positively balance their will typically target workers to save on costs. Despite the presence of the legislation, there are loopholes that employers routinely exploit to engage in age discrimination without facing repercussions. The majority of the cases do not have the “right to sue” because the cases seemingly do not have “merit”. This is especially so when the discrimination targets persons not covered by the legislation in the midst of those covered by the legislation (40 years of age or older). The reality is that human resource management (HRM) is unable to restore any balance since their primary concern is employers with a focus on cutting costs while ensuring that personnel are available. It is clear that these loopholes should be addressed through legislative approaches, but before then the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) be more stringent in identifying such cases (Levitz & Shishkin, 2009). Overall, it is clear that age based discrimination is a concern in the workplace and legislative changes are necessary to better protect workers.

References

Jones, A. (2007, October 6). Sidley Austin LLP Settles Age-Discrimination Suit. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition, A.18.

Levitz, J. & Shishkin, P. (2009, March 11). More Workers Cite Age Bias After Layoffs. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition, D.1. Age-Based Discrimination Essay

Sidley_Austin_LLP_Settles_Age-Discrimination_Suit

More_Workers_Cite_Age_Bias_After_Layoffs