They say that youth is wasted on the young. When you are young, you can work 80 hours per week and sleep only four hours per night for weeks on end. You willingly accept requests to engage in tasks you find highly unpleasant, simply because you want to stay on good terms with your employer and do not think you have the leverage to say no. Of course, once you have been in your career for a few decades, you have the wisdom of experience. You have tried multiple approaches to almost every aspect of your work, and you know which ones work for you. You are eager to act as a mentor to the younger generation, but you also do not suffer fools gladly. Which would an employer prefer to hire? Given that capitalism prioritizes making money quickly over the long-term well-being of institutions or of employees, they usually choose the younger employees, the ones they can pay subsistence wages and assign numerous unpaid tasks to, the ones they can chew up and spit out.
It is to the benefit of older employees and their younger colleagues that federal and state employment laws prohibit discrimination based on age. The Boulder age discrimination lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP can help you if your employer is trying to give you the boot just because you are old enough to order from the senior breakfast menu at Denny’s.
Colorado Age Discrimination Laws
The laws that govern Colorado’s prohibitions on age discrimination in employment are the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act. These laws enshrine age as a protected characteristic, which means that employers may not discriminate against employees or job applicants based on it. Employment discrimination occurs whenever an employer takes an adverse action against an employee because of a protected characteristic. Any of the following actions can count as age discrimination if an employer does them because of your age:
- Refusal to hire
- Bullying or harassment in the workplace, known in employment law as a hostile work environment
- Unfairly negative performance reviews
- Changing your schedule, duties, or work location when you did not request the change
- Undue scrutiny of your work
- Denials of promotions and raises for which you are eligible
- Reduction of pay
- Termination of employment
- Sabotaging your efforts to get a new job after the employer terminates your employment, such as by giving negative reports to prospective employers
Furthermore, Colorado law prohibits employers from using age-related language in job advertisements. It cannot, for example, say that its brand identity is youth-oriented. Some companies naturally market their products and services to a young customer base, but a store that sells children’s shoes cannot refuse to hire employees over 30; people in their 50s are as qualified to sell shoes to children and their parents as people in their 20s. Job advertisements also cannot say they are looking for recent graduates or similar wording that indicates they prefer to hire young applicants.
Is There an Age Limit for Age Discrimination?
Federal law defines age discrimination as discrimination against employees and job seekers ages 40 and above. It may be inconvenient for employers to hire workers in their 40s and older because experienced workers tend to request higher salaries. Older workers are also more expensive for employers because they are more likely to have spouses and children and to cover these family members under employer-provided health insurance plans. Discriminating against older employees because they need money and health insurance to support their families is as unfair as discriminating against young women because they might become pregnant, take paid maternity leave, and then insure their children on the employer’s health insurance plan.
There is no upper age limit for age discrimination. Employers cannot discriminate against employees just because they have reached an age where they are eligible for retirement. Even if employees are in their 70s, where they must draw Social Security even if they are still working, it is the employee’s choice, not the employer’s, when the employee should retire.
By contrast, it is not age discrimination if the employer gives preferential treatment to older employees and job applicants at the expense of younger ones, including but not limited to higher pay. Job advertisements can list the minimum experience required for the job.
It is also not age discrimination when employers require job applicants to pass physical fitness tests to prove their ability to perform physically demanding jobs. Age does not correlate directly with physical fitness, so the test is not a proxy for age discrimination. The fitness benchmarks measured should be limited to the physical demands of the job.
How to File an Age Discrimination Complaint
The process of filing an age discrimination complaint begins with contacting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The courts will not consider employment discrimination lawsuits unless the plaintiff has first received authorization from the EEOC to proceed with the lawsuit. You must contact the EEOC within 45 days of the adverse action that you believe was motivated by age discrimination; if the discrimination was a series of incidents, such as a hostile work environment, the deadline is 45 days after the most recent incident.
An EEOC counselor will interview you to find out as many details as possible about discrimination in your workplace. You have the right to hire an employment discrimination lawyer to represent you in your dealings with the EEOC. After talking to you, the EEOC will investigate your claims by interviewing other people at your workplace. Their claims may corroborate yours or contradict them, and the EEOC might find out that other employees at your organization have been targets of discrimination, even if they did not complain to the EEOC. At the end of the investigation, the EEOC will approve or deny your request to file your age discrimination lawsuit in court.
Contact HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, About Age Discrimination
The Boulder employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys, LLP, can counsel you about age discrimination claims. Contact the employment lawyers at HKM Employment Attorneys LLP in Boulder, Colorado, to set up a consultation.
