If you still retain a copy of your company's employee handbook, you may want to check to see what it says about employment and about terminations. It may have been written in such a way that it implies an employment contract (although many companies have recently rewritten theirs because of the rash of wrongful firing suits). If you feel strongly about your situation, at least discuss it with a lawyer to determine whether you might have grounds for a suit. You might also check out your rights in the new Employee Rights Handbook (Facts On File) by Steven Mitchell Sack.
The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), covers both working people and those seeking employment who are age 40 to 70. A brief summary of its provisions:.
Kelvin Grove, a partner in the labor law firm of Fox & Grove, quoted in Forbes, August 29,1983, p. 122.
It protects you from discrimination in hiring, in holding on to a job, in wages and salaries, and in fringe benefits and perquisites.
It prohibits advertising that excludes women and older workers.
It doesn't protect you if you've reached the stage where age is a bona fide condition for employment, usually because of public safety (firefighters, police, air traffic controllers, airline pilots, etc.).
It doesn't prevent employers from offering incentives for early retirement. But it does prevent them from forcing you to retire against your will. However, employers can observe the terms of a seniority system so long as it isn't used to evade the purpose of the ADEA.
It applies to organizations that employ more than 20 workers. (About 70 percent of all workers are covered by ADEA.)
It permits the mandatory retirement of executives and policy makers at age 65.
If you are disabled, an employer can't force you to retire before age 70 so long as you are able to do the work.
Is it worth it to sue? Maybe, if your suit is not based solely on age discrimination. If you win, the company will have to pay back wages, reinstate you, pay your legal fees and otherwise settle. If the company wins, however (and major companies, at least, consider very carefully every discharge of an older worker to determine if their position will stand up in court), you will still be unemployed and have a big legal fee to pay besides. And should the judge consider your case "frivolous," you may also have to pay a large fine.
Groups and agencies exist who can help you determine whether you have a legitimate case or not. These are the same organizations that help older people who are discriminated against in hiring. Talking to them before you see your lawyer might save you a bundle.
But will the government help you prosecute your company if you have been discriminated against? Not very likely. The government's record on age discrimination prosecution is dismal. In the Reagan administration, and in the Bush administration as well, age discrimination has had a very low priority. Frankly, you would be wasting time and effort, which could better be used looking for a new position in which you would be happier.
Were you a successful sales representative or sales manager for a major firm? How about becoming a manufacturer's representative for several small manufacturers making compatible lines? If you choose high-quality offerings targeted for the markets with which you are already familiar, you could be off and running in a short period of time, and end up with far greater financial rewards with little in the way of up up-front expenditures. This is one of the fastest-growing segments in the sales area. Currently, many small manufacturing and importing firms are finding that they have larger sales at less cost by using knowledgeable manufacturer's representatives rather than on-staff salespeople. The firms can pay higher commissions because they're not stuck with the fixed costs of benefits or payroll for nonproducing sales staff. But the risk is, of course, greater for you. You have no benefits, other than those you provide yourself. And you have to pay all of the selling costs. There are no nice company expense accounts, company cars or travel and entertainment allowances. On the other hand, you do get to write off most of those costs on your income tax.
In finding a new job, you will ultimately have to answer the major questions-what kind of job to look for, whether to change careers or not, where to look for a new position, whether to try to regain your old job or not-yourself. If you've considered your ego ideal, determined the communications profile of the job you're looking for and compared it with your own profile, and investigated your answers to some of the other questions raised in this article, you should at least be ready to make some of these basic determinations now. And you'll be able to engage in a more focused and productive job search.
