The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits discriminating against workers age 40 and over based on age. Refusing to hire older applicants or firing, demoting, disciplining, not promoting or taking some other adverse action against older workers solely because of their age violates the law. Today, the EEOC receives 20,000 claims annually.
Language in ads that suggests only young job seekers need apply should be eliminated. Describing the ideal candidate as “energetic” or the workplace as “fast-paced” are dog whistles in some organizations noting that older workers need not apply. Although recruiting young workers is the aim of most recruiters, older workers often have the knowledge and experience needed to fill the skills gap and therefore shouldn’t be automatically passed over.
