Discrimination against older worker occurs so often that Congress made an act to protect older workers from discrimination; this helps prevent increased unemployment for those older than 40 years of age. In 1967, congress made the Age Discrimination in Employment Act for the purpose of promoting the employment of older workers based on their ability instead of their age. This act applies to employment by public and private employers and by the unions and employment agencies, as well as foreign companies that have more than 20 workers located here in the United States. In 1967 the act covered employees between the ages of 40 and 65, the upper limit was extended 70 in 1978 and then the limit was removed completely later on. Now there is no longer an upper age limit, a 79 year old may be just as qualified as a 30 year old and should have the opportunity to prove her or his qualifications and obtain employment base on them. Another issue with this act is mandatory retirement; for the most part this has become a thing of the past. It should also be mentioned that people are living longer lives today and this act will become more and more critical for the working employees in this country. .
Title VII and the Age Discrimination act are similar in several ways, and both are enforced by the EEOC. But these two acts are different in two important ways; The Age Discrimination in Employment Act is more lenient than Title VII regarding the latitude afforded employer's reasons for adverse employment decisions (Alexander, Hartman 2001). The Age Discrimination in Employment act allows an employer to argue that a prima facie of age discrimination by identifying any factors other than age that has helped make the decision. The other difference is the Age Discrimination in Employment act only protects employees that are over 40 years of age from discrimination. So, a person under 40 cannot file a claim under this act based on the claim that he or she was too young.
