Los Angeles Age Discrimination Lawyer

Older workers benefit their workplaces with their experience and hard work but are often not rewarded for it. Sadly, there’s a stigma that older workers require more medical care, cannot keep up with recent technology trends, and, due to retirement, are not worth the investment.

It is, however, illegal to discriminate against someone based on their age, both on the federal level under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) and on the state level in both California and Washington. If you have faced age discrimination in the workplace, a Los Angeles Age Discrimination Lawyer can help.

Age discrimination is when an employer treats a worker negatively or differently due to an employee’s age. In California, you are protected if you are at least 40 years old and your workplace has at least 20 employees. You can also be immune if you are in a “high policy-making position” and have a pension of $44,000 or more.

Sometimes a company will ask you to retire voluntarily, and if you accept, you will probably have to sign a waiver saying that you won’t sue for age discrimination. Of course, you don’t have to retire, but you will probably get a better benefit deal than if you chose to retire normally.

Age discrimination can be difficult to prove. Although it is not mandatory that you complained to HR about your treatment, it may be helpful to your case. Your attorney must prove that you were directly discriminated against due to age and no other reason.

There are many possible examples of age discrimination, for example:

• Not getting selected for a job due to your age
• Getting fired for an infraction that you can prove younger people were not fired over
• Being passed over for a promotion, solely due to your age
• Negative performance reviews that are specifically tied to your age
• Being mistreated or being terminated after reporting age-based discrimination