Dealing with discrimination at the workplace can be a daunting task. Individuals often find themselves being passed over for job promotions or denied certain responsibilities and raises for seemingly no reason. Their employers will deny that the choices were made on the basis of some non-work related trait and say instead that job performance or planning for the future was the main catalyst. You may not be able to operate on anything other than a hunch if you feel you were targeted and discriminated against because of your religion, gender, race, or age. Fortunately, there are laws in place that prevent your employer from discriminating against you because of your age, and if you can manage to prove his intentions, you can receive fair compensation for your suffering. Our team of lawyers at the Employee Justice Legal Team in Orange County has dealt with many cases of workplace discrimination throughout the years, and our goal is to ensure that the business changes for the better and becomes more accepting and tolerant. We have had clients call us after job-related incidents that they believe were caused by workplace age discrimination; they often want help moving forward and taking legal action. Some of the questions they ask us include:
- What can I do about employer age discrimination?
- Where can I find an Orange County/Santa Ana/Irvine/Anaheim lawyer with experience in age discrimination cases?
- Who is the best Orange County/Santa Ana/Irvine/Anaheim attorney that has experience in age discrimination lawsuits?
Age Discrimination Overview
Discrimination is a problem in the workplace – it can be the main reason that a person does not get hired. For example, a chic store that wants to present a certain aesthetic to its customers will hire people who fit that look, and not those who fall outside of it. When it comes to age, some companies may want to hire more youthful people as opposed to older individuals. The reasons behind these are varied and complex. Some companies believe that hiring older people is a risk. Older folks generally have families, more responsibilities, more control in their lives, and experience dealing with management. As a result, they may be more likely to take days off, campaign for changes, and alter the attitude of the workplace by influencing other workers. Older workers who have kids, especially, will likely need to step away from work to take the children to the doctor or to pick them up early from school. This discrimination extends further to women of marriageable age, as some employers may be wary of impending maternity leave.
The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 was passed to prevent employers from discriminating against workers based on their ages. This meant that all aspects of the job were covered, from hiring to firing; you are protected in your job assignments and responsibilities, wages and raises, promotions and benefits, layoffs and job training, and more. Workers over the age of 40 could not be treated worse or differently than younger workers, and even groups of employees over 40 could not be discriminated against from others over 40. For example, a business could not force a man in his late 60s to retire, nor could they cut his hours for being elderly and not do the same for a worker 20 years his junior.
For more information about employer age discrimination, you should reach out to an experienced Orange County/Santa Ana/Irvine/Anaheim attorney. You can get more information about the law and what your options are moving forward.
Preparing to File a Lawsuit
Filing a lawsuit for age discrimination can be problematic. Unlike other types of lawsuits where you can usually point to evidence of wrongdoing, fault, or negligence, age discrimination claims are almost exclusively based on statements and circumstances. You will very rarely find an employer state that you were passed over, mistreated, or acted out against because of your age; to admit to that would be admitting to breaking a federal law, and employers have to do everything in their power to avoid facing backlash and legal repercussions for their underhanded actions. You may only be able to examine the facts of the situation and determine that age possibly played a factor in the decision to fire you or decrease your work hours. Your employer, of course, will say that that was not the reason.
In order to assemble your evidence, you will need to keep a record of what happened at the company during the surrounding time of the incident. Make a note of who was given more responsibilities or what actions were taken against you and anyone else; this comparative evidence can give credence to the notion that prejudice was at play.
You should bring up your issues with someone at your Human Resources department at the company. It is the department’s job to protect the employees from unfair treatment; however, many workers choose to ignore the problem or let the employee suffer on because addressing it would give the company a bed reputation or even alert the authorities and accrue fines. This bad publicity and negative reaction could yield worse sales and more public mistrust. The interests of the company will almost always outweigh the moral standing of the employees, unfortunately, and with the help of an age discrimination attorney in Orange County/Santa Ana/Irvine/Anaheim, you can make sure the policies are changed and you receive a settlement for your damages.
In addition to a paper trail from Human Resources and your notes of what happened in the situation, the testimony of fellow coworkers could come in handy. Some coworkers may be extremely hesitant to give you their opinions on if you were discriminated against because of your age, however; they may feel that by supporting you they will risk their own job security. Those who do give statements, though, can help mediators or juries see that other people noticed the discrimination as well.
Above all else, you should contact an expert attorney about employment age discrimination. There are many perks to having legal representation.
The Statute of Limitations on Age Discrimination Lawsuits
An attorney can help you stay within the statute of limitations for your job age discrimination lawsuit. You may find it difficult to assemble all of your evidence and submit it to the relevant agency. With the assistance of a skilled lawyer, you will not have to worry about any of the legal duties of your lawsuit – you will only need to give your testimony while we handle everything else. The statute of limitations must be adhered to or the case will be thrown out or ignored, and our attorneys keep tabs on crucial dates and deadlines.
The time limit to file an age discrimination claim is 180 days from the date of the incident. If there are any state or local laws that also prohibit age discrimination, that statute will extend to 300 days. It is extremely important to recognize that this means you have less than a year to file a lawsuit. Further, if you work for a government agency, your statute of limitations is drastically reduced – you only have 45 days to file a claim. This makes urgency and punctuality necessary when searching for legal help and getting your case moving.
Statutes of limitations exist because cases should be dealt with in a timely manner. If there is a long delay between the incident and the lawsuit, there is the chance that evidence will have been lost or corrupted in the meantime and that witnesses’ memories and recollections will no longer be sharp and accurate. This encourages a fair and accurate claim process for both the plaintiff and the defendant.
Your Settlement
Our law firm in Orange County/Santa Ana/Irvine/Anaheim can make sure you earn a fair settlement for your employee age discrimination lawsuit. Most notably, your lost wages can be reimbursed, as well as any earnings that were lost or missed because of the lawsuit itself. There is the option of noneconomic damages in the form of pain and suffering being included, which would cover PTSD, fear, anxiety, mental scarring, psychological anguish, and more. Additionally, punitive damages are available in some instances. Only skilled lawyers can win these damages, as they are often viewed as excessive by juries – the extra monetary compensation is purely meant to punish and dissuade the defendant from committing the action again.
Employee Justice Legal Team: Here for Workers
Our team of attorneys at the Employee Justice Legal Team promises to work hard to bring you a fair settlement for your age discrimination lawsuit. Your career should not be affected by your age, and employers should focus on job performance, responsibilities, and moral standing when making decisions. Our lawyers will aggressively fight for your rights as an employee and as a human, and we will not stop until you are satisfied with the result.
Call us today for a free legal consultation with an experienced attorney. You can ask us any questions you want about your case and we will give you necessary information about discrimination lawsuits. All consultations are completely confidential – you will not have to worry about any of our discussions leaving our office. If you select us for legal representation, you will be given a zero fee guarantee on your claim – this promises that you will pay no out of pocket expenses for our services. Your savings will always be left untouched. We only receive payment if we win, and the money comes out of the settlement we bring you. If we lose, we receive nothing at all.
Contact the Employee Justice Legal Team in Orange County for help filing an age discrimination lawsuit.