HRM 6605 Chapter 12 - Age Discrimination

What three things might the EEOC do once a complaint is filed?

1. Dismiss the complaint if charges have no merit, or investigate 2. If it investigates, EEOC can bring suit on the employee's behalf OR give them a right to sue letter 3. If right to sue letter, employee has 90 days to file suit either in federal court or state court

Five factors to assess reasonableness of an RFOA.

1. Factor is related to employer's state buisness purpose 2. Factor was well-defined and applied fairly and accurately 3. Employer limited supervisors' subjective discretion 4. Employers assessed the effect of the employment practice on older workers 5. Degree of the harm to individuals within the protected age group.

What four things build a prima facie case?

1. Member of a protected class (40 or older) 2. Suffered an adverse employment action 3. Employee was doing his or her job well enough to meet expectations OR was qualified for a position 5. Others not in protected class were treated more favorably

Employers are required to retain what 6 pieces of information for each employee and applicant for three years? (for ADEA recordkeeping purposes)

1. Name 2. address 3. DOB 4. Occupation 5. Rate of Pay 6. Compensation earned each week

How might age discrimination be proven in the case of an R IF (reduction in force)?

1. Where an employer refuses to allow the discharged employee to bump others with less seniority 2. Where the employer hires younger workers when jobs become available after older worker was discharged at the salary of the older worker.

How long does an employee have to file a claim under ADEA?

180 days to file with the EEOC .... often, state or local laws push this to 300

Age Discrimination in Employment Act

1967 law that prohibits discrimination of employees 40 years and up..... individuals who are not yet 40 are NOT PROTECTED and may not be discriminated against on the basis of age.

Give the general perception in American culture of older-age workers.

Decreasing interest, lack of innovation and imagination, lessening of the quality of the person

Two types of discrimination exist under the ADEA. What are they?

Disparate treatment, disparate impact

What is the "but for" cause?

Employer can recover only if the employment action wouldn't have taken place "but for" age discrimination

Who does the ADEA apply to?

Employment by public and private employers and by unions and employment agencies as well as foreign companies with more than 20 workers located in the U.S.

True or false: A waiver bars the employee from filing a claim with the EEOC.

FALSE - it cannot.

True or false: There is an upper age limit for employee protection by the ADEA.

False

True or false: There is protection for reverse discrimination (those under 40) by the ADEA.

False.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

Federal law that increased the responsibility of pension plan trustees to protect retirees, established certain rights related to vesting and portability, and created the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (regulate private employee benefit plans, including retirement plan provisions)

Waivers

Intentional relinquisment of a known right. OWBPA concerns the legality and enforceability of early retirement incentive programs and waivers of rights under the ADEA>

What is dissimilar treatment?

Might require an employer to explain its actions if it terminates an older qualified employee while simultaneously hiring younger employees (others were treated more favorably)

How longer are employers required to maintain information like job applications, resumes, records on promotion, job orders given to job agencies, test papers, etc.?

ONE YEAR for each employee (both regular and temp employees)

Liquidated damages

Predetermined amount of damages, equal to the unpaid wage liabilty

What is an RFOA?r

Reasonable factor other than age (May include any requirement that does not have an adverse impact on older workers, as well as those factors that do adversely affect this protected class but are job-related)

Equitable relief

Relief that is not in the form of money damages (reinstatement, promotions, injunctions0

True or false? Most states and some municipalities have laws that protect older workers and, in some cases, provide protections greater than the ADEA.

TRUE

Difference between Title VII and the ADEA in demonstrating BFOQ for age.

Title VII - demonstration that the essence of the business requires exclusion of protected class. ADEA - Title VII, PLUS all or substantially all of the individuals over that age posess a dissqualifying trait that cannot be ascertained except for reference for age

Mandatory retirement was deemed illegal in 1986. True or false?

True

True or false: The ADEA allows an employer to rebut a prima facie case of age discrimination by identifying a "reasonable factor other than age".

True

True or false: The ADEA makes it unlawful to include age preference, limitation, or specifications in job notices or advertisements.

True

True or false: a 62 year old may pursue a claim for discrimination when employer treated a 55 year-old worker better.

True

True or false? States often provide for longer filing periods than the ADEA.

True

True or false? The ADEA is more lenient than Title VII regarding the latitude afforded employers' reasons for adverse employment decisions.

True

True or false? State laws on age discrimination vary widely.

True (Alabama and Mississippi have no age discrimination laws), employees there limited to the ADEA

True or false, the U.S. doesn't have mandatory retirement, but the ADEA and certain states do permit select exceptions.

True (jobs like traffic controllers)

True or false: The ADEA does not prohibit termination of protected employees for budgetary reasons.

True (such terminations constitute discrimination when the economc reason given merely obscures age discrimination)

True or false: Employer may claim that age is a BFOQ.

True - and in fact, it is one of the most consistently applied BFOQs

Bona fide voluntary retirement options must be truly voluntary.

True.

Older Workers Benefit Protection Act (OWBPA)

U.S. act that amended the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to include all employee benefits; also provided standards that an employee's waiver of the right to sue for age discrimination must meet in order to be upheld by a court.

Is age discrimination covered by Title VII?

Yes

Some employers feel that older employers may be more ____________ to retain because they have greater experience and seniority.

expensive

from 1992 to 2002, the portion of the workforce that was 55 and older _________.

grew/increased, from 11.8% to 14.3%

Most often, employees file a complaint with their employer using their __________ grievance procedures like arbitration.

internal