What is Age Discrimination?
Under the Fair Employment and Housing Act, employers with five or more employees can’t fire or mistreat workers because of their age being 40 years or older. An employer has the duty to ensure that opportunities are based on abilities and not conditioned upon age stereotypes. Unless there is direct evidence of age discrimination, to have a strong age discrimination claim, an employee must show that (1) they were 40 years or older; (2) the employer carried out an adverse action (e.g., termination, demotion, refusal to hire, etc.); (3) the employee’s age was a substantial motivating factor for carrying out the adverse action; (4) the employee’s performance was satisfactory; and (5) the employee was replaced by a significantly younger person.
Legal Liability
If you have been discriminated or retaliated against based on your age being over 40 years, you may be entitled to compensation for lost wages, lost career opportunities, emotional distress, and punitive damages if your employer acted with malice, oppression or fraud. Your rights are still protected, and you may still be entitled to damages, even if your employer alleges that you were terminated for performance issues or selected in a layoff or reduction in force.
The content on this website is not legal advice, does not establish an attorney-client relationship, and does not guarantee any particular outcome.
