Age Discrimination in Layoffs: Factors of Injustice

Henry, Eleanor G.; Jennings, James P.

doi:10.1007/s10551-004-1778-0

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Empirical work in this regard points to structural aspects of employment, evaluation, and bias that expose racial/ethnic minorities to discretionary and unequal treatment on the job-unequal treatment reflected in persistent differentials in job positioning and mobility (e.g., McBrier and Wilson 2004;Wilson 1997), pay and rewards (e.g., Cancio, Evans, and Maume 1996;Grodsky andPager 2001), networks (e.g., Fernandez andFernandez-Mateo 2006;McDonald, Lin, and Ao 2009), and firing (Byron 2010;Zwerling and Silver 1992). Scholars of aging could certainly make a similar case given what we now know about the disadvantages aging workers face in promotions, job assignments and discriminatory layoffs (Berger 2009;Henry and Jennings 2004;Kelley et al 2017;Lassus, Lopez, and Roscigno 2015;Rothenberg and Gardner 2011).…”

Section: Status Vulnerability Discrimination and Sexual Harassment And Workplace Injusticementioning

confidence: 99%

Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and the Impact of Workplace Power

Roscigno

2019

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

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Research on workplace discrimination has tended to focus on a singular axis of inequality or a discrete type of closure, with much less attention to how positional and relational power within the employment context can bolster or mitigate vulnerability. In this article, the author draws on nearly 6,000 full-time workers from five waves of the General Social Survey (2002–2018) to analyze discrimination, sexual harassment, and the extent to which occupational status and vertical and horizontal workplace relations matter. Results demonstrate important and persistent race, gender, and age vulnerabilities, with positive vertical (i.e., supervisory) and horizontal (i.e., coworker) relations generally reducing the likelihood of discriminatory and sexually harassing encounters. Interaction modeling further reveals a heightened likelihood of both gender and age discrimination for those in higher status occupational positions but uniform vulnerabilities across the occupational hierarchy when it comes to women’s experiences of sexual harassment and minority encounters with racial discrimination.

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Section: Status Vulnerability Discrimination and Sexual Harassment And Workplace Injusticementioning

confidence: 99%

Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and the Impact of Workplace Power

Roscigno

2019

Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World

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“…Relying on diverse data and methods, researchers have amassed evidence of widespread and persistent age‐based discrimination at the individual level. Studies confirm that organizational representatives discriminate against older workers at each stage of the employment process, including hiring (Bendick, Brown, and Wall ; Butler and Berret ; Lahey ; Lassus, Lopez, and Roscigno 2015), training (Simon ), promotions (Adams ; Roscigno, Mong, Byron, and Tester ), and retention (Henry and Jennings ; Lassus et al 2015; Roscigno et al ), as well as within everyday workplace interactions (Chou and Choi ; Johnson and Neumark ).…”

Section: Evidence Of Employer‐side Barriersmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Institutional decoupling enables organizations to mask discrimination. For instance, organizations craft retention policies that are explicitly rational and performance‐based, but they utilize these policies to terminate older workers at higher rates than younger workers (Henry and Jennings ; Schrank and Waring ). As countries continue to formally outlaw expressly age‐based policies, the organizational imperative to mask discrimination will increase, and the incidence of age‐based institutional decoupling will likely grow.…”

Section: Evidence Of Employer‐side Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Over the Hill, Under Siege: Labor Force Graying, Labor Market Pushes, and Consequences for Life Chances

Lassus

2015

Sociology Compass

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Interest in older workers has recently expanded due to concerns over labor force "graying." Research and policy on aging adults' labor market participation have, thus far, framed the decision to labor as one shaped solely by the desires and capacities of older workers themselves. This perspective fails to recognize how multiple employer-side barriers play a large role in defining -and limiting -available choices. In this review, I synthesize the multi-disciplinary literature on employer-side barriers to older workers' labor market participation. In particular, I identify and discuss individual-, meso-, and social structural-level barriers that uniquely affect this group, noting where gaps in understanding remain. I consider older workers primarily as a whole to demonstrate how age operates as a distinct, important identity; however, I also ref lect on how age overlaps with both other identities and cohort membership. Next, I brief ly consider the relationship between these employer-side barriers and aging adults' life chances, particularly in an era of austerity. Although I focus on the United States case, I also note key cross-national similarities and differences. Finally, ref lecting upon the foregoing review, I suggest that a redirection of public policy is necessary to effectively respond to this contemporary demographic shift.

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“…In acute economic crisis, even large organizations may resort to a reactive way of work where saving personnel expenses becomes an urgent and even discriminatory issue. In 1997, a large U.S. defense contractor, Ashford Aeronautical, had completed its major defense contracts; unexpectedly, they were not renewed (Henry and Jennings, 2004). It was decided by senior management that the work force must be downsized to meet the current year's strategic profit plan objectives.…”

Section: The Passive Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The capability of organizations to manage delayed retirement

Kadefors

Wikström

Arman

2020

JOEPP

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PurposeThis work was undertaken in order to develop a conceptual model for identification of the capability of an organization to implement age management measures.Design/methodology/approachBarriers to delayed retirement were reviewed; observations retrieved from a research consortium study were used to identify main attributes that needed to be taken into consideration in the development of the model.FindingsThe capability of organizations to react to the demographic challenge by introduction of age management measures can be classified operatively as “proactive”, “reactive”, “passive” or “chained”, depending on their resources and preferences.Practical implicationsThe model may be useful to HR as a point of departure in the development of a business case for age management and a didactic tool to be used in internal marketing.Originality/valueThe concept “organizational capability” was developed as a corollary to the individual aspects of capability; recognizing preference and resource as main drivers made it possible to develop a typology that is new and is easy to understand and apply.

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Age Discrimination in Layoffs: Factors of Injustice

Cited by 12 publications

References 8 publications

Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and the Impact of Workplace Power

Discrimination, Sexual Harassment, and the Impact of Workplace Power

Over the Hill, Under Siege: Labor Force Graying, Labor Market Pushes, and Consequences for Life Chances

The capability of organizations to manage delayed retirement

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