There are many instances when elderly or young employees fall into the trap of age discrimination and suffer a lot in the workplace. It is the moral duty of the employer to never look at the age number when it comes to hiring, firing, or promoting an employee. Though at times it might get confusing what are the motives of the employer behind a move if you feel that your employer has sidelined you because of your age, you can immediately take the assistance of an age discrimination lawyer Los Angeles to ensure that your rights are protected.
And even if you have faced age discrimination, you must try to think about how you can prove it, what all defense mechanism your employer is going to use, and lastly what damages and remedies you can look and ask for from the employer. But before you do that, let’s get into the basics so that the concepts are cleared.
What is Age Discrimination?
In simple words, age discrimination in the workplace is treating employees as less important because of their age. Also, you must know that the law against age discrimination charges based on your location, the size of the company, and the sector. But at the federal level under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), there are protections for the employees. It ensures to protect the employees and job applicants over the age of 40 years. The law is only applicable to private employers with 20 or more employees, labor organizations, employment agencies, local government agencies, federal and state agencies.
There are various provisions present in the ADEA that forbids employment discrimination specifically based on age in many different ways. The employer has no right to refuse a job applicant just because he is old or cannot fire anyone based on age reasons. So basically, the law protects the employees from any kind of age-based harassment if happened in the workplace.
When to hire an age discrimination lawyer?
Refusal during the job interview
If you have applied for a job in your area and after the complete interview rounds, the employer tells you that he cannot offer this job to you because you are too young or too old for it, then this kind of act is called age discrimination. Based on this reason, you can file a lawsuit in court stating that you were not given the job because of your age.
Refused promotion and other benefits
If your employer refuses to give you the promotion that you deserve just because you are older than other employees, then know that the employer has violated the ADEA and you are eligible to hire an age discrimination lawyer Los Angeles and talk your way through the further steps.
Filing a claim with EEOC
If you have been a victim of age discrimination at your workplace, the very first thing that you can do is file a claim with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Though it is difficult to prove the matters of age discrimination at the workplace as it is not always the case to have proofs as to why you were denied a promotion or why you were not selected for the job because of your age factor. But the good news if that, when you hire an experienced age discrimination lawyer, you surely get different options that can help support your case.
Being an employee, you must always know that you should not tolerate any kind of discrimination at the workplace that is against the law. When you talk to a good lawyer, you will know that there are numerous remedies for age discrimination matters as well. Right from compelled employment, reinstatement, attorney fee, and costs, promotion, Double recovery in liquidated damages for willful violations and many other things can happen when you hire the right lawyer for the case.
All you need to do is follow all the right procedures that are according to the state law and making sure that you are filing the complaint with EEOC within 180 days of the age discrimination incident. Once you do that, take a deep breath and trust your age discrimination lawyer and chalk out a plan for further process.
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