Grow old along with me!
The best is yet to be,
The last of life, for which the first was made.
– ROBERT BROWNING
An AARP national survey points to the existence of a climate of fear among older workers of seemingly pervasive and unchecked age discrimination in America.
The AARP survey finds that 64 percent of older American voters think workers over the age of 50 face age discrimination in the workplace and 34 percent report that they or someone they know has experienced age discrimination in the workplace. Meanwhile, older workers face increased pressure to work longer than ever before as a result of dwindling savings and disappearing pensions.
In addition, the AARP reports roughly 8 in 10 older American voters say:
- It is important for Congress to take action and restore workplace protections against age discrimination (81%).
- Across party and ideological lines, they support the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) (78%).
Age discrimination has flourished since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that workers who assert they are discriminated against because of their age have a higher burden of proof than workers who are discriminated because of their race, sex, national origin, religion, etc. (see Gross v. FBL Fin. Servs., Inc., 129 S.Ct. 2343, 2351 (2009))
The proposed POWADA would restore the previous legal rules and protections that existed before the 2009 decision.
POWADA was introduced in March by Iowa Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT). Harkin is Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee while Leahy and Grassley are the Chairman and ranking member respectively of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The AARP notes the unemployment rate for older workers has soared in recent years, and once out of work, older jobseekers experience far longer spells of unemployment – well over a year, on average – than their younger counterparts. The AARP says age discrimination is one of the significant reasons why it takes so much longer for older jobseekers to become reemployed.
The Supreme Court decision requires age discrimination victims to show that “but for” age discrimination they would not have suffered an adverse employment action. In other words, they must prove that age was the decisive factor in how they were treated.
Prior to the ruling, age discrimination victims, like other discrimination victims, were required to show only that discrimination was a factor behind how they were treated. The employer then was required to show that discrimination was not a factor.
The number of age discrimination complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has more than doubled in the past decade, to a total of 23,465 in 2011.
Here are some other findings in the AARP survey:
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Seventy-seven percent of respondents are concerned that their age would be an obstacle to finding work if they had to find a new job in the current economic climate; 56% say they are “very concerned.”
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Ninety-one percent agree that older Americans should be protected from age discrimination just as they are protected from other forms of discrimination, including a 73 percent supermajority of respondents who strongly agree.
The AARP (a.k.a. the massive insurance company) describes itself as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization with a membership that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to themand society as a whole.