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Age and obesity discrimination is the fastest growing type of discrimination in the workforce. The federal government established The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 which protected workers 40-years-old and older from being discriminated against based on age ("Laws Enforced", 2009). The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigates claims of workplace age discrimination in workers 40-years-old and older ("About EEOC", 2009). In 2008 there were 24,582 complaints of age bias reported to the EEOC (Levitz and Shishkin, 2009). A substantial proportion of the American public is overweight. Overweight individuals are frequently the victims of pervasive discrimination, particularly in the area of employment. This paper examines issues associated with Age and obesity discrimination in the workplace.
AGE DISCRIMINATION IN THE WORKFORCE
Historically employers wishing to hire new employees were able to disregard applications based upon any age bias. To discourage employer from age discrimination the federal government created the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 ("Laws Enforced", 2009). "The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) is a federal law protecting people 40 years of age or older from employment discrimination based on age. ADEA applies to employers with twenty or more employees" ("Laws Enforced", 2009). Companies that do not have twenty or more employees are not covered under ADEA but many states do offer laws to protect employees from age discrimination.
Under ADEA the federal government only defines age discrimination as a biased incident against employees 40 years of age and older, but the struggling economy has forced an age bias in younger employees as well. Age discrimination can take its toll physically, emotionally, and financially on employees. Employees may lose their income, house, or become overly stressed as a result of age discrimination. In the implications/analysis section, there are four specific cases documenting different situations of age discrimination and how they affected the lives of the employees. The workplace discrimination claims are all investigated through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ("About EEOC", 2009).
When must people think of discrimination they think of black and white, male and female, or gay and lesbian, but the EEOC has reported age bias discrimination is the highest and fastest growing type of discrimination. With the national unemployment rate hovering above 10% companies are...