Rhode Island Age Descrimination Attorney

Generally, discriminating on the basis of age in the workplace is illegal under both the Federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and the Rhode Island Fair Employment and Housing Act .

Under both laws, there are some special limitations on who can sue. (For general limitations on who can sue and be sued, see Who is Covered.)

People under forty years old are not protected by age discrimination in the workplace laws. If an employer refuses to hire somebody because he or she is thirty-nine, and therefore "too young", that is not illegal. But if it because he or she is forty and "too old", that is illegal.

Age discrimination has some special aspects that make it different from other types of employment discrimination. A few of these are discussed below.

Golden Handshakes

Sometimes when employers are down-sizing, they lay people off by offering "golden handshakes", which are special packages to employees who agree to take early retirement. This is not age discrimination. However, if it is being done for the purpose of getting rid of older workers just because of their age, and if it can be shown that there is a real discriminatory motive, that is illegal.

Replacing Older Workers

It is illegal to replace a person over 40 with a person under 40, if age is the reason. It is also illegal to replace a person over forty with a younger person who is also forty.

Replacing Higher Earners and Age Discrimination in the Workplace

It is not illegal to replace people who are making high wages with people who will make less because they have less seniority.

However, this usually means replacing older workers with younger ones. If the wage considerations are not the real motivator, and the employer is actually trying to replace older workers with younger ones, that it illegal. Here, the employee must prove that it is the age, not the wages, which is motivating the employer to fire the older workers.

Other Related Pages

Age Discrimination is further explored in the following pages on this website: