Implementing the ADEA

awilliams

Hello all,

It's me, your friendly special reports author, looking for more insight from you HR heroes! I'm about to tackle the research for our August 2002 Special Report on the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. I am interested to know what you find to be the most troublesome parts of this act and what specific topics you would like some advice on.

The feedback I received on the ADA report was very helpful! That report will be in the hands of law center members next month! (If you're not a law center member, you can purchase the report on this website).

Thanks again,

Anne Williams
Attorney Editor
M. Lee Smith Publishers, LLC

Hatchetman

Ms. Williams, I may be wrong, but I suspect you're not going to get as good a response on ADEA issues as you did on ADA. The reason is probably that ADEA isn't as often cited by employees as ADA. The situations in which ADEA come into play are probably more subtle than with ADA or may be more limited to certain types of emplyees, e.g., senior managers.

Since ADA complaint can be as simple as an employer failing to act on a rquest for reasonable accommodation, it is not that hard for an aggrieved individual to raise an ADA issue. Further, because of the wide scope of provisions of ADA, it involves continuing employment practices in many areas -- sleection proces, fitness for duty, employee relaitons, confidentiality, etc.

On the other hand, ADEA essentially comes down to one issue for most situations, the non-hire/non-promotion in a particular situation off an older individual. For example, if an employee is passed over for promotion, it may be due to age, but it will quite difficult for the employee to establish it or to even raise enough evidence beyond the mere claim. If there is a challenge to a non-promotion where the employee is over 40, I think that most likely he'll see other issues as being the cause in view of the fact that most likely the people makeing the decisions are also over age 40. I understand that the mere fact that a decision-maker is over age 40 doesn't invalidate an ADEA claim but, as I say, it then becomes harder for a line emplyee to draw a hard complaint within the company without evidence of a pattern of age discrimination by that "over-age 40" manager.

Just my thoughts. I hope you do get a good response. I would love to see how ADEA IS viewed in the HR field.

Personally, as an indiviudal over age 40, I sometimes feel that I am being "discriminated against" but I can't carry it beyond my emotional position since I have no data to draw upon.