S. 2189 (112th): Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act
This was the proposed legislation by democrats in the Senate on March 13, 2012 to amend the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), after it was gutted by the United States Supreme Court in the Gross v. FBL Financial Services, Inc. decision. Click HERE to read the newly proposed legislation.
Why is this proposed legislation important to you? Well, if you are forty and older, and you get fired from your job and you think it had something to do with your age then pay attention! Currently, your chances of proving age discrimination in court are not great! Unless you have statements, recorded or otherwise, from your boss that you’re too old to work, asking when you are going to retire and they say they want younger employees to replace you, you have a serious problem! Why? The Gross decision by the Supreme Court now requires that you prove that your age was the œbut-for reason for the termination you experienced. The old standard required you to show that your age was a substantial motivating factor, which is easier to prove. In fact, some states like Connecticut still follow the older rule.
The Congress and President Obama can mandate new socialized health insurance, raise the minimum wage for federal contract employees, but they cannot protect the œbaby boomer generation from the carnage of corporate greed and bias. Wait, wasn’t that the same generation that protested the Vietnam War, went to Woodstock, chided the political establishment etc. Wake up people and get off your butt, go protest the injustice that is sidelining thousands of well qualified and experienced employees-just because they (you) are getting older. If you don’t then the following will continue to happen over and over and over and over and over again. When you hit fifty-plus (50+), your employer begins a process of reviewing your age, compensation, costs premiums for health insurance and then sets up a plan for termination. This generation of employees are getting royally screwed but no one cares!
Ask yourself this question: Are more qualified and experienced today, than you were twenty years ago? If the answer to the question is yes, then why are you being fired before you retire at sixty-five?
It’s your age! How do I know all this? I have been watching this all too frequent occurrence in the cases I litigate and research. If you would like more information, contact our employment attorneys in Connecticut and New York, Carey & Associates PC at (203) 255-4150.
Employer Tactics Revealed How Employers Use Age to Terminate Employees