What Is Age Discrimination At Work

What is age discrimination at work? It is being treated less favourably, or disadvantaged by a rule, because of your age. The protection runs in both directions and one of them goes almost entirely unrecognised.

At the older end it shows up as assumptions rather than insults. Being passed over for training because it would not be worth it. Questions about retirement plans that nobody asks a forty-year-old. Being described as set in your ways.

At the younger end it looks like being told you are too inexperienced to have a view, exclusion from decisions on the basis of age rather than role, or jokes about a generation’s work ethic. Younger workers rarely name this as discrimination, so it is not reported and not addressed.

Both patterns are usually treated as ordinary workplace talk until somebody resigns over it.

The Australian Human Rights Commission covers age discrimination. This is general information rather than legal advice, and obligations vary by state and territory.

See Sentrient’s EEO training course and respect at work training.