Discrimination Protection: The Age Discrimination in Employment Act forbids age discrimination against employees who are age 40 or older. Discrimination based on age involves treatment by an employer when an employee is treated less favorably because of his or her age. Age discrimination can include any aspect of employment including hiring, firing, pay, job assignments, promotions, layoff, training, benefits, and any other term or condition of employment.
Employment Policies. An employer’s policy can be discriminatory even when it applies to employees of all ages if it has a negative impact on individuals who are age 40 or older and there is no basis in a reasonable factor other than age.
Trends in Legal Practice. Following a lawsuit in Chicago earlier this year where an adjunct professor was not hired because of her age (66), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC”) has proposed a regulation to remove birth and graduation dates from job applications. While the status of this regulation is currently unclear it is important for employers and employees to understand their rights. The standard under Nebraska law to establish a claim of intentional age discrimination allows a plaintiff to either present direct evidence of such discrimination or prove his or her claim through circumstantial evidence using the familiar McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting framework. An employee must then prove a causal connection between the alleged discriminatory actions and the resulting negative impact suffered. This action must be based on a specific business practice or particular policy and cannot be sustained by a mere allegation of multiple scenarios which could be determined to be age discrimination. Additionally, age cannot be a pretext when an employer is able to prove other reasons for their negative actions.
Nebraska does allow age to factor into an employer’s decision or policy when the requirements of the job would reasonably require an individual of a certain age.
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