The Growing Importance of Teaching the ADEA?

Do you teach the ADEA in your classes? Since we have a class on employment discrimination, I have’t always covered the ADEA, but in light of a recent article in the New York Times, I’m rethinking my decision.  The Times ran a December 6, 2013 article by Michael Winerip, Pushed Out of a Job Early.  According to the article “[a]ge discrimination claims are on the rise as members of the post-World War II baby boom enter their 60s. Last year, 22,857 people filed age-related complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, compared with 16,548 in 2006.”

The article notes older workers who lose their jobs face a reduction in their standard of living: “[o]nce older workers lose their jobs, many never regain their former standard of living. On average, those who do find work make 20 percent less than they had in their previous positions, the biggest income loss for any age group, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”  The article notes the difficulty in prevailing in an ADEA case “since a 2009 Supreme Court ruling requiring an employee to prove that age was the determining factor for a layoff. In a few states, however, including New Jersey, the standard of proof is lower, requiring only that workers show that age was one factor.”