IT Project Manager: 20 Years of Experience and Age Discrimination Issues?

	Career Development Career Development

by Miriam Ziemelis

August 21, 2001

Of course, we all realize that discrimination in its various forms is still alive and well. However some forms of discrimination are much easier to prove than others. Age discrimination can be very difficult to prove if you are fired and even more challenging if you have not yet gotten the job. Hiring practices in most companies today put in several safeguards against it, but we have all met one of those unethical HR managers and department managers who will tell you that they don't always "play by the book." Obviously, any practice of discrimination is absolutely unacceptable. Your company and team benefit from people not only of different races, religions, cultures and sex bring, but of different age groups as well. Yet even though we know this, when was the last time you saw a recruiting event geared towards recruiting people over the age of 40?

Now, I cannot begin to presume what leads people's minds down the demented path of any type of discrimination, so we won't even go there. Obviously it is a real problem in America and is the reason that ADEA (Age Discrimination in Employment Act) was enacted in 1967.