Final Draft of Research Paper!!

So glad that this is done! Hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving!

Lindsey Mitchell
Professor Aiken
English 1101
24 November 2009
Age Discrimination in the Workplace
One who works hard enough to acquire a job and keep it doesn’t want to lose it because of a petty issue like age. Some might even say they never got a chance at the job because they were discriminated against because of their age. There are many types of discrimination; The one that appears the most in the workplace deals with age. Age discrimination in the workplace not only affects the older population, but it affects young job seekers as well.
There are various laws that protect the workforce from being discriminated against because of their age. The ADEA or Age Discrimination in Employment Act protects the older group of workers, specifically those who are forty years of age or older (“Your Rights: Age Discrimination”). Age discrimination can occur in many forms. Some of these being: denying benefits to employees, not hiring because they are “under qualified” or being let go and replaced by someone more “qualified” (“Age Discrimination: Impact on Young Workers”). It is against the law to discriminate against young workers also. They do not have as many laws protecting them as the older workers (“Avoid Age Discrimination in the Workplace”). The OWBPA or the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act modified the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and restricted the type of discrimination that involves not offering benefits to older employees (“Age Discrimination in the Workplace”). Like the previous law, the EEAR or Employment Equality Age Regulation mostly pertains to older workers, but this regulation does protect younger workers too (“Age Discrimination: Impact on Young Workers”).
There have been many cases of suspected age discrimination brought to court; Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. is a sufficient example of what could be age discrimination in the workplace. In 2001, Jack Gross was Claims Administrator Director at FBL Financial Services Inc. (Gross v. FBL). In 2003, when Gross was fifty-four years old, he was reassigned to a new position as Claims Project Coordinator (Gross v. FBL). He considered this a demotion that had to do with his age, because of an individual in her early forties took a similar position and some of his responsibilities. They were both receiving the same pay, so Gross filed suit (Gross v. FBL). In April of 2004, Gross stated that his “demotion” disregarded the rules of the Age Discrimination of Employment Act. The jury’s first decision was that the company had violated the ADEA and granted Gross approximately forty-seven thousand dollars of lost pay (Gross v. FBL). FBL Financial Services Inc. did not agree with this outcome and appealed the decision. The U.S. Court of Appeals said that there would be a new trial, a new jury, and a new judge because the previous jury had been instructed wrongly under the decisions made in another case, Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins. The Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins case decided the applicable way decide what kind of proof was needed to reach a verdict (Gross v. FBL). The jury was instructed that this was a “mixed motives” case. This is a case in which there are legitimate and illegitimate applications, when there really were not. They only needed to decide if Gross could prove that his age had anything to do with his employer’s decision (Gross v. FBL). The regulations that were made in the Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc. did not last long. These rules were overturned shortly after, with a new bill called “Protecting Older Worker’s Against Age Discrimination Act” (Simon). This bill hopes to make all discrimination cases the same. This means each case must provide the same proof and be treated fairly (Simon). Simon stated, “Let’s hope that this important Congressional fix gets passed soon” (qtd. Simon).
Discrimination cases are some of the hardest ones to prove so the laws dealing with these cases need to be fair and just. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission published that 25,000 age discrimination cases were filed last year; this number will only go up if the economy stays the same or plummets further (Simon). The figure (Fig. 1) below demonstrates how age discrimination claims have risen in the last few years (ADEA in green) (Miles). Miles also notes, “ADEA claims will continue to rise dramatically and 2009 will be a record year” (qtd. Miles/Chart of EEOC Claims Data).

Figure 1. Number of Discrimination Claims in the United States (1997-2008).
Source: Philip Miles, Chart of EEOC Claims Data, McQuaide Blasko Attorney Firm.
2009. Web.
Age discrimination in the workplace can affect anyone seeking a job. When someone thinks of age discrimination, older workers are usually come to mind. Most employers want their business to thrive and to be successful. It should not matter how old someone is, as long as they are skilled at their job and are an asset to the company (“Avoid Age Discrimination in the Workplace”). After workers have been at their jobs for a while, benefits, pension, and raises are expected. Some older employees are seen almost as an expense if they are compared to younger ones who don’t qualify for these benefits (Doyle).
Unemployment is presently at a high rate especially with high school and college age students seeking jobs to earn a little extra money (Collyer). Most people do see young people as the stereotypical ‘lazy and only cares about themselves’ type of person. In reality that is only true for some of the youth population. That stereotype could prevent a young person from getting that part-time job or first “good job” as it is sometimes referred to. Most young adults who want a job bad enough are going to work hard and show a lot of initiative if it is something that is important to them. Age discrimination against the young has been called “reverse age discrimination” (Collyer). General Dynamics land Systems, Inc. v. Cline is a court case that helped settle a reverse age discrimination issue (Collyer). The Court said, “If Congress had been worrying about protecting the younger against the older, it would not likely have ignored everyone under forty” (qtd. Collyer/”Can Employees Discriminate Against Younger Workers?”). After this case in July 2007, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared a rule that said employers could not discriminate against young workers and hire older workers instead (Collyer). This new rule was added to the ADEA and also set up some guidelines for “help wanted” signs. If the employer is seeking a worker with a higher education or more experience, the employer should state this as a job requirement; therefore, eliminating the chance that one with less education one experience can claim discrimination (Collyer). If young workers do feel as if they were discriminated against because of age, claims for them are welcomed like ones for older people (Age Discrimination: Impact on Young Workers).
Discriminating against people of any age group is definitely bad for business. Any intelligent business owner should know this. All business owners want the best for their businesses and experimenting with employees of different ages and giving them a chance at various jobs is the only way to find out who would work best in the position (Collyer). Age discrimination can make employees feel intimidated and feel as if they are always in competition at work (“Avoid Age Discrimination in the Workplace”). “Extensive research has found no relationship between age and job performance” (qtd. Doyle/ “Age Discrimination: How Old is too Old?”).
Age Discrimination is definitely becoming a greater problem, especially with the slump in the economy. If the workforce can learn to recognize age discrimination; they can protect themselves and take the necessary steps to receive just treatment in the workplace (“Avoid Age Discrimination in the Workplace”). This means that students looking for jobs will have to work even harder in school to have an accredited resume and good references for their first job. As for older workers, they have a little more going for them because they should have previous work experience. Even if someone does not get a job, it cannot be because of their age, since there are many acts and regulations that protect them from age discrimination.