One of the most important protections of workplace rights can be found in the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). It prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of age against workers and job applicants in matters such as wages, promotions, termination of employment and hiring.
A Wisconsin man who was 64 years old at the time he applied for a job with a Madison auto parts seller recently filed an age discrimination lawsuit against RockAuto, LLC.
The company requires applicants to disclose the year in which they graduated college. In the case in question, the applicant had 15 years of job-related experience. Despite that, RockAuto hired applicants around that time who were 32 years old and 22 years old.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) says “RockAuto used its hiring process to screen out older candidates while granting exceptions and providing effective preferences to younger candidates.”
In his lawsuit, the man asks the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to order RockAuto to either hire him or give him front pay. The EEOC says front pay is designed “to make a victim of discrimination whole for the discrimination suffered, by placing the individual as near as possible in the situation he or she would have occupied if the wrong had not been committed.” Front pay will often include the wages and benefits the victim would have received if the discrimination would not have occurred.
The applicant in this case is also asking for back pay and a permanent injunction prohibiting the company from discriminating on the basis of age against future job candidates.
If a Wisconsin employer has discriminated against you on the basis of age, contact the Milwaukee law firm of Alan C. Olson and Associates to schedule a consultation by video or phone.
