How is Age Discrimination proved? "Very rarely is discrimination proved with one event; usually discrimination arises from subtle pressure over a period of time.
Age discrimination affects seniors in many ways. It causes a loss of confidence, lowers self-esteem, and places stress on family relationships. In its most blatant form, age discrimination means a loss of income. Fortunately, federal and state law protects most seniors from age discrimination. The 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was enacted by Congress to protect older workers between ages 40 and over from age discrimination in the workplace. The ADEA makes it illegal for an employer with 20 or more employees to fire or to refuse to hire a senior solely on the basis of age. The ADEA also protects older workers from discrimination in recruitment, training, promotion, pay, benefits, layoffs, retirement, or other employment practices. Local, state, and federal workers are also protected by the ADEA."" (www.uky.edu).
"Court statistics show that most discrimination cases are filed on the basis of age, sex and race. Sex discrimination cases include sexual harassment, which happens all too often. Age discrimination happens as much as it does because we are staying alive longer. Now that the baby boom generation is almost all between 40 and 65, a huge number of workers are nearing the end of their careers. This is when employers tend to make decisions based on age, favoring younger workers who they perceive as more energetic and better able to learn new technologies."".
Few employers admit that they discriminate against applicants or employees. Experience shows, however, that employers still leave plenty of fingerprints. This includes:.
Direct, or "smoking gun" evidence, such as:.
-Disparaging remarks, slurs, admissions of bias ("women don't belong around heavy construction equipment"), jokes .
Indirect evidence, such as:.