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- July 10, 2008
Age Discrimnation in the Workplace
Age may be nothing but a number, but try being over 50 in the workplace.
Despite how far businesses have come in creating a fair and diversified workplace, there is still age discrimination. This is especially true of individuals trying to start a second career or making a career change later in life. How you look can be a factor, though an unspoken one, in whether you are hired or not.
Unfortunately, economic necessity will keep aging baby boomers working longer largely because of longer life expectancy, more limited private pension benefits and anxiety over potential changes in Social Security. These long-term workers sometimes will also be the first to be discarded in favor of younger workers with less pay requirements.
Since age discrimination seems to be increasing, so has the number of age discrimination lawsuits. With many companies downsizing or going bankrupt in today’s economy, the number of older displaced workers has also increased. In 2004, the average payout on a age discrimination lawsuit that went to trial was $219,000.
