Age Discrimination

The problem issue at hand is a decision that I have to make as a Human Resource manager is to be sure that my company doesn't commit any age discrimination because of the new tight labor market. The company is very small and has less than twenty workers and with high rates quoted for insurance, the employees wouldn't be able to afford the plans and that mean that we will have more employees out sick because they can't afford to go to the doctor. First, I'm dealing with a pervasive perception that older workers are more costly because of health care, pensions, and other fringe benefits that I am trying to get for the entire company at a lower rate. As I look further into the cost of the packages for the entire company the perceived and real costs of providing benefits at a reasonable and affordable rate for other employees has can serve as an economic incentive and make it seems that my company is discriminating against the older workers. Second, there was a widespread perception of older workers as less flexible, less technically competent, and less suitable for training. Studies of older workers tend to refute the stereotypical view that they are less productive than younger workers. Although some physical and mental capacities decline with age (e.g., speed and reaction time), these changes tend to be small until advanced ages and may be compensated for by greater experience. At every age there is wide diversity of abilities and learning potential, so basing employment decisions on job-related criteria rather than arbitrary and misconceived notions about age is a fairer and more efficient use of people's skills. According to the U.S. Congress passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This law and its amendments made it unlawful for employers of more than twenty workers to discriminate against a person past age forty because of his/her age. The ADEA of 1967 protected employees between ages forty and sixty-five against workplace discrimination in such areas as hiring, firing, promotion, layoff, compensation, benefits, job assignments, and training. With the economy the way it is I am faced with the position of retiring, firing or laying off some of our older workers in order to get a good rate on company benefits for the rest of the company. I have looked at the laws and I see that I wouldn't be committing age discrimination if I was to retire, lay off, or fire some of the older workers that have been at the company for many of years. With the company only having twenty employees we are protected by law to letting go of any of the older employees. Also North Carolina is a At- Will state which means that they don't have to give you a reason for letting them go.