When you have worked hard to achieve a level of success, it is illegal for an employer to demote or terminate your employment because of your age. If you are a victim of employer age discrimination, you deserve to be compensated for resulting damages. An Inland Empire age discrimination attorney with Rager & Yoon – Employment Lawyers will listen to the facts of your case, discuss applicable age discrimination laws, and help gather facts and evidence to support your age discrimination claim.
California And Federal Law
Your claim may be filed under federal law or California law and your employment law attorney will help you determine which law will better serve your case. California law is often more favorable in employment discrimination cases as it often offers more protections. For example, federal age discrimination law applies to employers with 20 or more employees while California age discrimination law applies to employers with 5 or more employees.
Age Discrimination Is Not Limited To Employment Termination
Often when people think of employment cases involving age discrimination they think of older employees being fired in order to replace them with younger up and comers. As Rager & Yoon – Employment Lawyers employment law attorneys know, age discrimination applies to other workplace circumstances as well. See below for examples of workplace age discrimination.
- An employer firing an employee because of his or her age.
- An employer failing to hire a job candidate because of his or her age.
- An employer demoting an employer because of his or her age.
- An employer refusing to promote an employee because of his or her age.
- An employer creating a hostile work environment for an older employee in an effort to force that employee to retire.
- An employer not offering benefits and opportunities to older employees that are offered to younger attorneys.
- Employer policies or layoffs that disparately impact older employees.
Defenses To Age Discrimination Claims
Employer defenses may include the following common defenses to age discrimination claims:
Employee performance issues are commonly raised and the employer will attempt to offer evidence of the employee’s unsatisfactory performance.
A reason unrelated to age caused the employer to take actions that negatively impacted the employee. For example, an employer fired an employee for sexually harassing a coworker.
A bona fide occupational qualifications defense allows employers to take action against employees or job candidates due to their age for the safety and efficiency of the business. This defense may work in limited circumstances such as an age limitation for airline pilots or vision requirements for commercial truck drivers.
Statute of limitations in age discrimination cases are often shorter than for other types of legal claims and if a plaintiff has waited too long to file a claim, the defendant employer will raise a statute of limitations defense.
If you believe you may have an age discrimination claim, contact Rager & Yoon – Employment Lawyers to schedule a consultation with an Inland Empire age discrimination attorney. We are fierce employee advocates who want to see that California employees are protected from illegal employer conduct and we will work to see that victims of age discrimination or any other workplace violations are compensated for their damages.