1. Layoff
Employers are supposed to add to a layoff notice a list of other workers excluded from and included in the layoff, along with their ages. Companies can be sneaky about the way they draw up these reports.
Some will show only select job titles or specific departments, which don’t give a complete image. More often, they will add a few under-40 workers to these reports to make it look less like age discrimination.
Still, if you’re selected for layoff and younger, less-qualified colleagues at your level aren’t, you have an age discrimination claim. If you’re part of a small or one-person layoff and you can prove that younger employees are treated better by not being included, then you may be able to show that your age was the reason for the dismissal.
2. Job Elimination
One of the most common excuses used to ditch older workers is “job elimination.” However, what’s often behind the company’s reasoning is the idea that younger employees are preferable to older ones. In other words, the phrase “job elimination” is rather an excuse for what’s really age discrimination.
If your employer isn’t really eliminating the position but just changing the title and giving your former position to someone younger, you may have an age discrimination claim.
