Unfortunate Age Discrimination in the Current Employment Act

The first thing a lawyer will tell you when you approach him in this matter is that you can sue somebody, if you happen to be the kind of person that the Age Discrimination in Employment Act applies to. Well, that might sound like stating the obvious, but it isn't.

The thing is, it doesn't apply to everyone who is of the right age (which would be the age of 40). There are some glaring exceptions, and in at least one instance, they actually allow age discrimination.

That exceptional instance covers executives. An executive who makes more than $44,000 a year, if he isn't doing a good enough job and the company suspects that it's because of this age, can find himself forced to retire. And he can't sue under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

And there are other people who can't sue too – people like police officers or firefighters or air traffic controllers. These people need to be alert and quick-minded. They can't sue if they're forced to retire because of they've reached a certain age. And oh – if your employer runs a really small company – less than 20 people – then you can't sue.

That said, there are  going to be so many cases filed under the Age Dscrimination in Employment Act starting now. Social Security has changed its rules. You can't begin to draw your full benefits until a higher age now. That will mean that people want to stay on at their job for longer. And companies are not going to like this often. They will try to push them out sooner.

If you win upon suing the compensation you get can be substantial. You wil get overtime pay, back pay, front pay, emotional distress compensation, and they'll multiply all these as punishment for how they violated the law. If all you want is to be rehired, the law will make them do that, too. In addition
to giving you all of these.

There are no real figures on how many discrmination violations occur in this country. But the bad economy means the that there are plenty of them. Employers have their pick of younger and more energetic workers at all times for less pay.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reports that over the past five years, complaints made over age discrimination have jumped up 20%. People over 40 who have been laid off are just not getting a second chance. They think that it's because of their age. These people sue a lot.

Usually, you can begin to suspect age discrimination if at an interview, you're asked something about your age or if the interviewer says something about how you are probably not technologically competent.