Older employees should be valued for their experience and judgment. Instead, too many employers see older workers as expendable. Employers may wrongly assume that older workers are less entrepreneurial or that they lack skills necessary for the modern workplace. When an employer makes an adverse employment decision — including the decision to hire, fire, promote or demote — or harasses an employee because of the employee’s age, this is age discrimination. Making matters worse, older employees frequently have a harder time finding new jobs that pay as well as their previous job.
The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws prohibit age discrimination in the workplace. The ADEA applies to employees who are age 40 or older. The New York State and New York City Human Rights Laws do not contain this limitation, recognizing that there are many jobs in which employees who are not yet 40 may be perceived as “too old.”
If you have been harmed by age discrimination in the workplace, you need lawyers who will be fully invested in your case. At the Law Offices of G. Oliver Koppell & Associates, our attorneys take on all types of discrimination cases, including age discrimination.