EEOC: age discrimination might also be a part of so-called “intersectional harassment”—harassment based on the intersection of two or more characteristics. Image: Lightspring/Shutterstock.com
The EEOC has stressed that protections under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act apply not just to overtly discriminatory actions such as denying employment opportunities based on age but also to workplace harassment based on age.
An agency statement of actions in connection with Older Americans Month, which was May, recounts recent litigation involving the private sector involving policies such as a hiring initiative designed to bring younger workers into a company’s workforce; a case in which a job applicant was denied a position on grounds that the company wanted someone who would stay in the position for an extended time; and others.
The EEOC statement stressed that beyond such forms of discrimination, the ADEA protections for those age 40 and older extend to harassment, which can be seen in “negative perceptions and stereotypes about older workers.” (While the EEOC statement did not refer specifically to the federal workforce, the ADEA and other laws enforced by the EEOC apply there as well as in the private sector.)
“This includes harassment based on negative perceptions about older workers. It also includes harassment based on stereotypes about older workers, even if they are not motivated by animus, such as pressuring an older employee to transfer to a job that is less technology-focused because of the perception that older workers are not well-suited to such work or encouraging an older employee to retire,” it said.
Also potential signs of harassment based on age are comments by the employer regarding someone having a “senior moment,” it said.
It added that age discrimination might also be a part of so-called “intersectional harassment”—harassment based on the intersection of two or more characteristics that are protected under the ADEA and other laws the EEOC enforces, such as the Civil Rights Act.
For example, “if a woman who is age 40 or older is harassed based on stereotypes about older women, this harassment is covered as both age and sex discrimination,” it said. This might be seen, for example, in comments about a woman having hot flashes or being emotional due to menopause, it said.
In the most recent survey of federal employee perceptions of discrimination, reflected in a MSPB report issued a year ago, age discrimination was the third most commonly cited form of discrimination in the federal workplace, just behind race discrimination and sex discrimination, and well above other forms of discrimination. That reflected a consistent pattern in such studies.
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