Age Bias in the Workplace
With people having children later in life, and therefore expenses such as college tuition looming over parents who are in their 50's and 60's, more workers say they plan to stay on the job well past normal retirement age.
The question is, will workplaces welcome these older workers? Despite progress at some companies, age discrimination appears to still be a pervasive problem.
An appeals court ruled last week that a former Google Inc. (GOOG) executive can move forward with his age-discrimination lawsuit against the tech company. The former employee claims colleagues called him an " old fuddy-duddy" and told him he was fired because he wasn't a "cultural fit," according to court documents.
As an employment lawyer, I hear cases similar to the Google case all of the time. Many of my clients don't even think to tell me about most of the comments that have been made because they have become so accustom to that type of environment and have therefore become numb to the discriminatory conduct in the workplace.
According to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute in April, 24% of current workers say they'll retire at age 66 or later, and another 27% plan to retire at 65. This data suggests that age discrimination cases are going to increase in the near future.
The same EBRI study finds 37% of retirees said they left the work force earlier than planned, with 28% pointing to health problems, 28% citing "changes at their company, such as downsizing or closure" and another 18% citing work- related reasons.
If you feel you have been pushed out of your job based on your age, you should contact an attorney.
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