Age discrimination or ageism depicts any act restricting or denying career opportunities to prospective employees or employees due to their age. FEHA and ADEA regulations prohibit age discrimination of any form by employers in the workplace, and you may have grounds to seek redress. Even though getting discriminated against is illegal, age discrimination is still prevalent in the workplace.
Most people who find themselves in this situation either don’t understand or don’t know how to safeguard their employment rights. If you believe you are the victim of age discrimination in the office, our Van Nuys Age Discrimination Lawyers can assist you. We are conversant with state and federal employment laws and can help you get the legal remedies you’re entitled to.
Call our Fraigun Law Group offices in Van Nuys at 818-981-1800 to discuss your legal options.
What Signifies Age Discrimination at Work?
Although age discrimination can happen in different ways, it usually entails persons 40 years and over being subjected to adverse employment conditions. This discrimination may be in the form of being:
- Compelled to quit, laid off, or fired because of age
- Intentionally left out career advancements or promotions because of age
- Given reduced pay, job assignments, and/or benefits because of age
- Stripped of rank, face a pay cut, or have working hours decreased due to age
- Not getting employed because of age
- Bound to employers’ practices and policies that discriminate against persons due to age
Sadly, ageism in the office space doesn’t end there.
Generally, office personnel aged 40 years and more are exposed to harsh work conditions through harassment. Age harassment happens when a company permits the existence or creates an intimidating, offensive, or abusive workspace, which negatively impacts the ability of an employee to fulfill their job responsibilities.
The most frequent cases of age-related harassment encompass age jokes, slurs, and derogatory or offensive remarks directed at an individual’s age. Comments like these are against the law and can be used as grounds to file for both age discrimination and age harassment claims. Both the harasser and the boss may be held accountable and cover the harassment claim.
If you believe you’re in a discriminatory workspace in Van Nuys – whether it came from the employer or a fellow work colleague, consult with an experienced Van Nuys age discrimination lawyer at Fraigun Law Group now to go over your case and learn what legal recourse you have at your disposal.
Age Discrimination: Causes and Statistics
Given how individuals these days live and work for long compared to yesteryears, roughly one in five employees in America is currently 55 years or over. Sadly, this occurrence has only added age discrimination in the office space. For the most part, the motivation for this kind of discrimination doesn’t arise from hatred of older personnel, but rather greed or stereotypes, like older staff may need costly benefit packages, higher salaries, and medicare, are but a few of the reasons that may be used to discriminate you.
One case study indicated that 25% of persons above the age of 45 have been subjected to some form of discrimination because of their age. Another study showed that 64% of employees have either undergone or witnessed some kind of ageism in the office space.
As expected, older people are not only more vulnerable to getting terminated, but when they lose their jobs, they’ll find it difficult to secure another job compared to their counterparts. In a sample of 10,000 companies, when asked, “Is age a competitive advantage or competitive disadvantage in your organization?,” over 2/3 of respondents classified older age as a competitive disadvantage.
What Should I Do When I Am the Victim of Age Discrimination?
If you are the victim of ageism in a Van Nuys Work Environment, keep meticulous records of every occurrence and report the happenings in writing and verbally to the HR department.
If there’s no HR department in your company, state the age discrimination to your immediate supervisor and/or manager, and preserve a record of what they did or did not address the harassment allegations.
It’s against the law for employers to engage in retaliatory actions against workers who allege age discrimination at work. If your boss retaliates, they may be sued on more legal grounds.
Consult with the skilled Van Nuys Age Discrimination Attorneys at Fraigun Law Group to understand your rights and seek out your employer to provide compensation for the hurt they have allowed to happen or have directly caused.
How is Age Discrimination Proven?
Many supervisors and employers who do age discrimination unsurprisingly do not acknowledge their true intentions. They will typically try to defend their actions by attributing non-age affiliated factors like company reorganization, downsizing, poor employee performance, or reduction in the labor force. Even when there’s no conclusive evidence of ageism, discrimination victims can still support their claims through indirect or circumstantial evidence.
Examples of actions that may be considered convincing evidence of ageism at work include:
- Discriminatory remarks by the supervisor or boss relating to the age of the employee, like jokes about being ‘Old School’, and that they’re set for retirement, or disparaging remarks about the older worker ‘needing a facelift’, ‘slow’, their tech skills, etc.
- An older staff getting exchanged by a younger person with equal or inferior qualifications to theirs.
- Older personnel being largely impacted by workforce layoffs or company retrenchment.
- Younger personnel getting favorable treatment when it comes to promotions, pay, work environment, etc.
- Older personnel not being equipped with skills and opportunities to solidify their position with the organization, being left out of integral meetings, or being downgraded from their responsibilities.
- A precedent of enlisting mostly younger people
- Proof of inconsistent or varying workplace standards and rules being administered to employees of varying ages, for instance, an older worker unjustifiably getting a lousy performance review than a younger worker.
Remedies For Victims of Age Discrimination
FEHA statutes stipulate that if a job applicant or an employee files a claim on the grounds of employment discrimination, they can recover:
- Past lost wages
- Future lost wages
- Reinstatement if demoted, or mandate the employer to hire the applicant for the position they were rejected
- Settlement for emotional suffering
- Reverse a cut in pay
- Lawyer expenses
Is There a Statute of Limitations For Filing an Age Discrimination Claim?
The newest law put into effect on 1st January 2020 extended the statutes of limitations to three years for all California workers. Previously, an employee had one year following the discriminatory action to file a claim with the state.
The worker additionally has 300 days to file a claim of employment prejudice with the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Time is of the essence when pursuing an age discrimination claim against your employer. Enlist the services of a professional Van Nuys age discrimination lawyer to understand your position better.
Consult a Seasoned Van Nuys Age Discrimination Lawyer
The work environment is supposed to be conducive and safe so you can go about your business. After all you’ve put into the company, you shouldn’t have to feel like you’re getting left out due to your age. It’s important to know that you have legal options if this is happening to you.
If you believe you’re being subjected to ageism at the office and that discrimination has hindered you from getting hired or has affected your job position, you may be entitled to pursue restitution from the employer. If you are experiencing age discrimination at the workplace, please contact a Van Nuys Age discrimination lawyer at Fraigun Law Group to help you. To book a complimentary consultation with us, call 818-981-1800 today!
