Affirmative Action Should Be Expanded To INCLUDE Age Discrimination/Here Is Why.

[TheMastersNemesis]

Age discrimination has been beyond a pandemic for over 30 years. It has become the norm since the recession. If you are over 40 you are now a constant target. The present labor situation enables corporations to steal or deny your pension just before you qualify for it. "Work at will" gives employers complete freedom to screw workers. They have all the power to wreck and ruin lives after years of loyal service. And now there is virtually NO LEGAL recourse fight back given recent Supreme Court decisions.

HERE IS WHY "Age Discrimination" should be under Affirmative Action that should be strengthened and expanded. Under present laws the litigant must prove a pattern of discrimination particularly with age discrimination cases. Such burden means that the litigant(s)must have access to personnel and hiring records that they cannot get to prove their cases. There is no chance to win. And companies pay little if one does win. There should be stiff and high punitive and high dollar amount awards in such cases.

THE MAIN REASON WHY "AGE DISCRIMINATION" SHOULD FALL UNDER AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LAWS IS THIS.
The federal courts can subpoena a companies hiring and personnel records. And these records must be presented to the court. AND THE MOST IMPORTANT DICTUMS that come when a company loses an Affirmative Action Case is the following.

IF A COMPANY IS PROVEN TO BE DISCRIMINATING THE COURT AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL APPOINT A "FEDERAL OVERSEER" to be installed in the Human Resources Department to force compliance with discrimination laws. Any violation will be in contempt of federal court order and the company will be subject to federal action.

Our labor laws must become more brutal when it comes to what is going on now.

[David__77]

1. In California at least, age over 40 is a protected class.

Discrimination on that basis would be illegal, in employment issues.

[LiberalEsto]

2. K&R

[OldHoopsJunkie]

3. "Beyond a pandemic"

Yes, quite so. It is as if we are expected to turn ourselves in for conversion to soylent green, making room for the generation emerging from mental diapers.

I came to this thread after seeing an archived thread in which some young turd justified the military setting the cutoff age at 37 by saying older people could not "keep up" physically.

Oh?

'Way back when I was 59, I decided to ride in RAGBRAI (a 450-mile bicycle ride across Iowa in the late-July heat and humidity).

My first day on my new bicycle, training for RAGBRAI, I came to a hill too steep, and I walked the bike up it. Then...

I learned that the U.S. Navy sends a team to ride RAGBRAI every year, and that they have a rule: no Navy rider may walk his or her bike up a hill.

So...Never again did I walk the road bike up a hill.

Then, last May, I started mountain biking (figuring that, at age 68, with one open heart surgery already behind me, it was about time). The hills are steeper and much more difficult with all the bumps, gravel, potholes, gullies, and rocks. The first day, I got 150 feet (at 7,000 feet elevation) before stopping in exhaustion. By September, I was doing 3-mile uphills from 6,700 to 8,600 feet without stopping the bike.

So...for the spring, I'm looking for those military types to join me at Big Bear Village and see who can get up to Grandview Point first. See who can "keep up," in other words.

The point is this: when I was a kid in the early 50s, most people in their late 60s were old. They looked old, they thought of themselves as old, they smelled old, and they creaked like they were old. It is no longer that way unless you decide you're old, or some illness has caught up with you. Not 10% of the "young" population these days could possibly keep up with me on a mountain bike or a snowboard, or thinking while at a keyboard.

[marble falls]

4. Very nice post, and excellent first post! A hearty welcome to DU!

[TheMastersNemesis]

5. My Post Is Even Truer Today. It Is Worse Than Ever.

The reason that age discrimination is even worse is that corporate America is moving toward a contract driven economy where technically there is no traditional employer of record long term. Workers will be like actors or sports stars. They work for short term contracts. When they can no longer be competitive they are done.

In that world the age you are done moves down even further. I call it the Roman Gladiator Scenario. Welcome to the task rabbit economy.

Working Americans are going to have to fight to regain the idea of long term employment and even careers. What is most frightening is that conservative elements even want to contract out workers who work in fire and police departments to corporate interests and move those and ALL jobs OUT of the public sector.