From Race to Age: The Expanding Scope of Employment Discrimination Law

Rutherglen, George

doi:10.1086/467966

Cited by 16 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…Policies and decisions targeted towards aging workers are often influenced by pervasive negative stereotypes about this group (Rosen and Jerdee 1976;Hedge, Borman, and Lammlein 2006;Roscigno 2010), despite widespread evidence that these stereotypes tend to be misperceptions (for reviews see Rhodes 1983;Ng and Feldman 2008;Posthuma and Campion 2009). They are also influenced by the common belief that aging workers cost more in wages and fringe benefits than younger workers do, despite some evidence to the contrary (Schrank and Waring 1989;Rutherglen 1995;Lippmann 2008).…”

Section: Aging Workers and Unemployment: Causes And Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging workers and the experience of job loss

Lassus

Lopez

Roscigno

2015

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility

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Aging workers experience the longest unemployment spells of any segment of the labor force and are much more likely than their younger counterparts to drop out of employment entirely. Yet, we still know little about aging workers' struggles to regain employment following job loss. Do they see themselves as structurally disadvantaged? And, what are the consequences for selfperceptions, notions of fairness, and even mental health? We fill this gap by drawing on 52 semistructured qualitative interviews with workers aged 40 to 65 who lost jobs during the Great Recession and have been attempting to find work since. Notable is their keen awareness of both age-specific labor market disadvantages and processes complicating re-employment for all unemployed workers during this period. Respondents articulate sophisticated analyses of how employer biases, credentialism, the job search process, and changes in the economy present very real barriers to reemployment. These perceptions and experiences, our materials suggest, have far-reaching social-psychological consequences, including loss of belief in meritocracy within major institutions; questioning of self-worth; and feelings of loss, isolation, hopelessness and depression-consequences to which stratification scholars should devote more attention, especially since many aging workers become discouraged and eventually drop out of the labor force.

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Section: Aging Workers and Unemployment: Causes And Consequencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aging workers and the experience of job loss

Lassus

Lopez

Roscigno

2015

Research in Social Stratification and Mobility

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“…Additionally, legal claims filed by older workers under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) – the key legislation in the United States protecting older workers from age‐based workplace discrimination – likely do not fully capture the pervasiveness of discrimination. Most often, individuals filing claims do not belong to another protected group (Rutherglen ; Schuster and Miller ). Nonetheless, research shows that aging adults who are members of other protected groups face discrimination based on these other identities in addition to any age‐based discrimination they face (Barnett ; Bjelland et al ; Duncan and Loretto ).…”

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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“…Not only are these bases fragmented, they contain contradictions. For instance, a study of age discrimination law in the United States revealed that the chief beneficiaries were middle-class White males, 64 which suggests that age discrimination does not sit comfortably under the banner of 'institutional and societal disadvantage', and, by favouring this sub-class, it may disfavour non-Whites and women. Another instance is the 'clash of rights' between sexual orientation and religion, demonstrated by a growing body of case law.…”

Section: The Basis Of Existing Equality Lawmentioning

confidence: 99%

Achieving social mobility

Connolly

2013

International Journal of Discrimination and the Law

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Since it came into office in 2010, the British Coalition Government has shown concern over the nation's declining social mobility, highlighted in Opening Doors, Breaking Barriers: A Strategy for Social Mobility, which identifies the private/state education divide at the root of the problem. However, despite this educational inequality and segregation, successive governments have not seen equality law as a tool of redress. This may because by tradition, distributive inequalities are dealt with only by political initiatives. The purpose of this article is to question this 'tradition' and evaluate whether using equality law in Britain as part of a social mobility agenda is justifiable, especially in education. The article concludes that discrimination law, based on school background, could play a significant part in employment, but technical issues make this less likely in education. However, a public sector equality duty extended to education could have a significant impact.

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From Race to Age: The Expanding Scope of Employment Discrimination Law

Cited by 16 publications

References 0 publications

Aging workers and the experience of job loss

Aging workers and the experience of job loss

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

Achieving social mobility

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