We don’t stay young forever, that’s one of the surest things we can count on in life. However, just because we’re starting to show the signs of aging – or just because our birth dates are before the year 1965 – is not enough reason for employers to give younger workers our jobs or to reassign us to less meaningful positions. If this has happened to you, you could be a victim of age discrimination.
Imagine you’ve been working as a computer programmer for the last 30 years. As a senior member of the team, you’ve lead numerous projects and been given some of the most challenging tasks to complete. Your pay has also reflected your high-level contribution over the years.
The thing is, it seems like project after project have come and gone in recent years, and you have not been given your due. Instead of taking on the high-level tasks, you’ve been given increasingly less important work. Even worse, you’ve discovered that younger, less-experienced and less-educated programmers are being hired at a pay rate much higher than your own.
Phasing out older workers by paying them less and giving them boring job tasks is not uncommon. In some ways, this is a strategy meant to push older workers out and get them to quit their jobs due to the unsavory working conditions forced upon them. Don’t let this circumstance happen to you. As soon as you suspect you’ve become the victim of age discrimination, start building a paper trail of evidence and learn as much as you can about your legal rights and options.
