Age Discrimination Paper

Monica Huffman

Age Discrimination

Intermediate Composition 289

Dr. Refaei

July 9, 2012

In reviewing the two articles, “New Developments Concerning Age Discrimination in the Workplace” written by Pinal Shah and Brian Kleiner, and “Age Discrimination:  Alive and Well in the Workplace?” written by Joseph C. Santora and William J. Seaton, Thomas Edison State College, it appears that age discrimination is alive and well in the current times.  The thesis of the article “New Developments Concerning Age Discrimination in the Workplace” is that age discrimination is “common and occurs in all types of industries, fields, and professions all across the world.  The common misconceptions about “older workers” include hard-to-break habits, technological ignorance, and lack of energy and flexibility.”  In the article, “Age Discrimination:  Alive and Well in the Workplace?” the thesis is that “many societies continue to focus on youth in the face of overwhelming evidence that older people (over the age of 60) are more active and more fit than ever before, and are living longer as a result of better healthcare.

The two articles for the most part go hand in hand.  Age discrimination is still a common occurrence in the workplace.  There are laws to protect “older workers” beginning at the age of 40; however, there is not anything to cover you if you are 39 or younger.  The two laws specific to the 40 and over crowd are the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 and the Federal Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.  The first mentioned law was designed to “Protect individuals who are 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age.  The ADEA’s protections apply to both employees and job applicants (Facts about Age Discrimination).”  This is a major federal law which prohibits employers from discriminating.  The second law mentioned “makes it illegal for an employer to use an employee’s age as a basis for discrimination in benefits and retirement.”

The intended audience for each genre, I believe, is directed more toward the 30 and over groups.  I believe the reason for this is because both laws that cover age discrimination do not begin to take effect until the age of 40.  The discourse the community is in is the working class adults.  The audience is going to interpret from this document what types of discrimination happen in the workplace as well as what laws protect them against age discrimination.  Being in the upper 30’s group myself, I found myself wondering about age discrimination and why it happened.  I also found of interest that the laws that protect against age discrimination do not begin to cover you until you are 40 or older.  I disagree with this because younger employees/applicants can and are discriminated against because their age as well.  The purpose of these two articles is to inform the audience of what rights they have as an aging society.

Each article establishes credibility by giving specific examples of age discrimination.  They also provide the laws that cover age discrimination by name and what rights they protect as well as informing us that the age the laws begin to cover is 40 or over.  I believe these articles do evoke an emotional response from the audience because baby boomers are now in the 50 year age range and my generation is pushing 40.  With the economy the way it has been in the past several years, jobs are scarce and lay offs are happening daily.  It really is a scary time to be “under the gun” when it comes to how old you are and whether or not someone “thinks” you can do the job because of that.  The types of evidence used in these articles are true examples of people who have been discriminated against as well as studies that were performed regarding age discrimination.  One study specifically mentioned in the article “Age Discrimination: Alive and Well in the Workplace?” is performed by a group from the Ohio State University.  They wanted to test “three assumptions related to age discrimination in the workplace.”  Overall, they found that workers, both skilled and semi-skilled, were discriminated against because of their age.  They state, “age stereotypes are often connected to work competencies – in short, older workers may be perceived as less able to “do the job.”

The articles seem to be very straightforward.  They provide a good bit of information in a decent amount of space.  The “New Developments” article is a much longer article than the “Age Discrimination” article.  The information, though, was easy enough to understand and was compiled in a way that made for easy reading.

The language seemed to be pretty down to earth.  It was not over my head to a great extent.  The specialized vocabulary was directed more toward the business frame of mind.  It still used common phrases and terms and did not go overboard with “big words.”

In conclusion, age discrimination in the workplace is certainly alive and well in this current time.  While there are laws to help protect workers from age discrimination, there is an age limit that goes along with the laws of 40 or older.  This leaves open the discrimination that happens against a younger generation of age 39 or younger workers.  Age discrimination happens in many different types of companies all over the world.  As stated in the “New Developments” article, “Whether old or young, all people should be treated with respect and dignity.”

 

WORKS CITED

 

Pinal Shah, Brian Kleiner, (2005), “New Developments Concerning Age Discrimination in the Workplace”, Equal Opportunities International, Vol. 24 Iss: 5 pp. 15-23.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02610150510788114

Santora, Joseph C., and William J. Seaton.  “Age Discrimination:  Alive And Well In The Workplace?”  Academy of management Perspectives 22.2 (2008): 103-104.  Business Source Complete.  Web. 9 July 2012.  http://search/ebscohost.com.proxy.libraries.uc.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=32739764&site=ehost-live