The recession has hit Baby Boomers--those born between 1946 and 1964--hit Baby Boomers hard. Their re-employment rate is lower than for any other age group, and when they do find work, they're making less than they did at their previous jobs. It also takes Boomers much longer to fund jobs than it does for younger workers.
But Michael C. Harper, a professor at Boston University Law School, says the law separates age discrimination from other characteristics that could cause bias, like gender or race. This law makes it more difficult to prove age discrimination, to the point where few attorneys will even take an age bias case.
“The difference is that age is actually under a separate statute from those other proscribed status categories, and the Supreme Court has held that although the language is identical to the other statute, a different Supreme Court, more Republican-appointed conservative justices, use their power in the Supreme Court to interpret the identical language differently in the age discrimination act, shifting a burden of proof on to the plaintiff, the older worker, the working who is claiming discrimination , that is on the employer, under Title 7 of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which covers those other categories,” Professor Harper says.
He says older workers are usually perceived as having a hard time learning new skills. But the accomplishments of 64-year-old long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad, who just became the first person to swim across the Florida Straits from Cuba without a shark cage, demonstrate the kinds of things older workers can achieve.
