What employment actions does the Age Discrimination In Employment Act prohibit?
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) prohibits employers from discriminating against persons aged 40 years or older in hiring, discharge, compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment. This includes limiting, segregating or classifying an employee in a way that could deprive an employee of an employment opportunity. The U. S. Supreme Court has held that inaccurate stereotyping of the elderly is “the essence of what Congress sought to prohibit in the ADEA.” The Court has further held that the ADEA “requires the employer to ignore an employee’s age…it does not specify further characteristics that an employer must also ignore.” Thus, where an employer bases an adverse employment decision on the belief that older employees are less efficient or less productive, the employer violates the ADEA. On the other hand, when an employer bases a decision on factors other than age, it does not violate the ADEA even if the motivating factors are correlated with age such as p
