Discrimination against aged workers is one of the problems that are still found in many workplaces in the US despite the country having a lot of age discrimination laws. It is fueled by the perception and stereotypes that older workers are not techno savvy and they are less productive compared to the younger workers. In addition, there is a general presumption that work productivity decreases with an increase in age. The assumptions should not be used to discriminate older workers in the workplace. Therefore, the paper focuses on age discrimination case involved Bobby Nickel and Staples.
Nickel was hired by Corporate Express in 2002 in the position of a facility manager. However, in 2008, Corporate Express was acquired by Staples (City News Service, 2014). Since Corporate Express was paying its workers a higher salary than Staple, the latter wanted to lay off older employees who were employed by the former. Nevertheless, Nickel refused to resign and he was subjected to false accusations and a lot of harassment from his colleagues and the management. He was fired on 29th July, 2011based on false accusations (City News Service, 2014). However, when he sued the company, the Loss Angels Superior Court found that he was wrongfully dismissed due to his age despite the fact that he had been receiving positive job reviews for the years he worked by Staples, and he was awarded $26 million.
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Employees such as Nickels are protected by The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 that is enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). EEOC ensures that any employee who is aged 40 years and above are not discriminated based on their age in areas such as promotion, discharging, and payment. Nickel was wrongfully discharged because of his age. The positive job review showed that Nickel was performing well despite his age. Therefore, age factor should not be used to discriminate employees in the US (City News Service, 2014).
Reference
City News Service. (2014, February 27). 66-year-old man awarded $26 million in age discrimination lawsuit against Staples . Daily News . Retrieved from http://www.dailynews.com/general-news/20140227/66-year-old-man-awarded-26-million-in-age-discrimination-lawsuit-against-staples
