Monday, March 31, 2008

The fight against age discrimination has just begun

Age discrimination has its standing in the wide list of discrimination cases in the workplace.

Both federal and state laws have provided provisions defining the coverage and parameters of age discrimination in the employment context.

Specifically, the federal governing law that admonishes age discrimination is the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This law protects individuals 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age.

On the other hand, in the state of California, the relevant law that protects unlawful age discrimination is the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA).

The said law among others makes it illegal for an employer to discriminate anybody on the basis of age. To be specific, workplace discrimination against employee or prospective employee based on age is proscribed.

There are diverse scenarios of age discrimination in the workplaces. The bottom line really is that irrespective of the circumstances, the same should be condemned as against public policy.

Having those stringent laws that protects individual against all sorts of discriminatory practices in the workplaces, a good question was framed, have we successfully addressed the pressing issue of age discrimination?

This question has kept haunting me, when I heard sad stories of age discrimination in workplaces.
To answer this query is almost impossible, more so impracticable.

In this competitive world, no one is really secured in their person, rights or property as well as on their living or employment.

The ever changing company policies, evolution of machines and fast-turn out of technology lead to severe discrimination in the workplace.

Most workers have lost their hard earned job thru different mechanisms employed by their employers at the guise of legal means.

Many aged workers who are still capable, mechanically and mentally to do the job, were laid-off and terminated from the job by their scrupulous employer due to reasons unknown.

Some employer’s request’s for an untimely retirement of workers in exchange for some unequal benefits.

These dismal events are hurting not only our society but also the future of our workforce. What can we do about this concern? Well, that is a question that cannot be answered overnight, much more certainly.

To cap things, the fight against age discrimination in the employment world is far from over.

Even with those laws, the fight against age discrimination has not yet begun.