5, is proscribed age discrimination if applied to a person over the age of 40. The age 70 limit for protection was removed in 1986. Consequently, unless justified by a defense, any fixed retirement age, 65, 70, or even 80, is a violation of the ADEA (Player, 15).For those over age 40, younger persons are protected against age discrimination under the same terms, as are older persons. It thus violates the ADEA to prefer a person 65 years old to one who is 45 years old. It is age discrimination to impose on workers of one age group requirements or conditions not imposed on other age classes. An employer may not, for example, require employees over the age of 50 to take physical or mental test not given to workers under 50. Standards of performance and discipline must be applied equally to all age groups (Player, 14). Discrimination ReductionAccording to Sheldon Steinhauser, president of Sheldon Steinhauser & Associates, Until business leaders wake up to the fact that age discrimination is a critical issue demanding immediate action, the courts are going to continue to impose enormous fines and award sever punitive damages (Age discrimination in the work place, 1999). In order to reduce or eliminate costly age discrimination litigation, Steinhauser has developed a list of the Top Ten Actions businesses can take:1.Recognize age bias and discrimination as the pervasive, escalating issue it is.2.Do an audit to assess your organizations culture. Find out how employees feel about older workers and how those feelings manifest themselves in the workplace. Messages often emanate from the CEO and are picked up by managers and supervisors.3.Re-think attitudes about older adults in your workplace.4.Initiate a dialogue between managers of different departments regarding age discrimination. Discuss the issue at appropriate professional organizational meetings to find out how other businesses are dealing with it.5.Review and, if necessary, rev...
