An Overview of Age Discrimination Claims

Both Federal and Pennsylvania law prohibit employers from discriminating against “older” employees. The age class that is protected is people over the age of forty. What this means is that the employer is not permitted to make a decision on the hiring, firing, promotion or conditions of employment of an employee which is detrimental to that employee if the motivating factor in the decision is the employee’s age.

Typically, the employee over the age of forty has suffered a disadvantageous result and another employee who is significantly younger has been favored by the employer’s action. The courts do not place a specific number of years difference in age to determine whether there has been age discrimination. Generally speaking, an age difference of less than seven years would not be considered significant. However, the favored employee may also be over the age of forty, and a finding of age discrimination made, when the protected employee is significantly older than the favored employee. For example, an employee of age fifty-five who is terminated in favor of an employee of age forty-two, may be found to have been the victim of age discrimination.

A finding of age discrimination may also be made when an older employee’s job has been “eliminated” and the job functions formerly performed by that person are taken on by an employee (or a group of employees) who are significantly younger than the disfavored employee.

In today’s harsh economic conditions, more and more experienced employees over the age of forty are finding that they have been harmed by actions of their employers. In fact, the most numerous types of discrimination lawsuits brought in court are for age discrimination. Whether age discrimination is, in fact, the cause of the conduct by the employer is something to be explored with a qualified attorney.