Employment Discrimination Based on Age: Part II: Applying the ADEA in Employment Scenarios: Discrimination, Idle Chatter, or Something Else?

This article is Part II of a study on the effects of age discrimination in the workplace. In Part I, we considered the origins of the debate on age discrimination and looked at the demographic information that led to the passage of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) in 1967. In Part II, we raise an important question: Is age discrimination still a real problem? The article analyzes the Act through an application to two employment scenarios by looking at the scope of protection, amendments to the original law, the costs of age discrimination to employers, important exceptions to the ADEA, defenses to ADEA charges, procedures for filing an ADEA claim, and waiver provisions. In addition, the article looks carefully at procedural requirements for filing an ADEA claim, remedies available to an aggrieved party, and to questions relating to retaliation by an employer. Finally, the authors consider the question of employer liability for actions undertaken by employers and other parties which are found to be in violation of the law. In doing so, the authors provide answers to the questions raised in the scenarios described at the outset of the article.