Tanner & Associates, P.C.

As America’s workforce grows older and workers decide to continue working past the traditional retirement age, incidents of age discrimination are occurring more frequently than ever before. Workers who are at least forty years old are protected from discrimination by employers, based on their age. A federal law, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, prohibits employers with 20 or more employees from taking any tangible adverse employment action against employees because of their age. The Texas Commission on Human Rights Act provides the same protection, but applies to employers with 15 or more employees. Tangible adverse employment actions include firing, demotion, layoff, reducing pay, suspension without pay and refusing to promote or hire.

A person who wants to bring an age discrimination claim must first file a charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Texas Workforce Commission Civil Rights Division or a local fair employment practices agency. Generally, such a charge must be filed within 180 days of the date the tangible adverse employment action happened. This is a necessary step which must be taken before an employee can file a lawsuit against his or her employer for any type of illegal discrimination.