Lamberton Law Blog

Stay up to date on current developments in employment law and at the Lamberton Law Firm

Age Discrimination

Unfairly Fired: What Qualifies as Wrongful Termination?

The Great Resignation is a term used to describe the mass resignation of employees from their jobs. This is the nearly 3% of the American workforce that has chosen to leave their employment on their own accord. But you may be surprised to learn that there were an additional 1.4 million...

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6 Signs You're Facing Age Discrimination in the Workplace

Age discrimination is a real problem for many older individuals in the workforce. It seems counterintuitive to ostracize populations with more experience and knowledge, but managers and hiring departments with ageist attitudes fail to recognize the value that older workers bring. It is estimated...

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You've Been Terminated. Now What?

It's estimated that two million employees are fired from their jobs every year. You're likely feeling pretty emotional if you've just been fired, especially if you have bills to pay and a family to support. It might come as a shock to your system if it is unexpected. However, even if you thought...

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What is employment law?

What is Employment Law? Employment law regulates employers' treatment of employees. It says that employers can't discriminate against employees because of race, gender, pregnancy, national origin, age, religion or disability. It says that supervisors cannot sexually harass women at work...

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The Price of Discrimination Is Getting Cheaper Each Year

I have always thought it contradictory that we proclaim strong national policies against intentional discrimination in the workplace but then cap the damages available to victims of discrimination. If we are serious about our commitment to preventing discrimination at work, we must abolish...

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Court sees credibility issues in alleged business judgment

Upholding a jury verdict for the plaintiff in an age discrimination case, the Court in Westmoreland v. TWC Admin. LLC, No. 18-1600 (4th Cir. May 22, 2019) said "Westmoreland[] ... was nearly 61 years of age when fired, TWC terminated her after 30 years of consistently satisfactory work, it replaced.

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IBM collective action waivers and private arbitration

Is IBM ingenious or has it shot itself in the head? Time and the Supreme Court will soon tell. As those following IBM's force reductions over the last few years already know, IBM stopped asking its terminated older workers for releases of their federal age discrimination claims in 2014. By not...

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Ageism is all around us

We cannot forget that ageism is the most socially condoned form of discrimination in the United States. This clip from SNL reminds us of some common ageist stereotypes. Carvey's character is called "Grumpy Old Man." Grumpiness would be the first ageist stereotype. The "resistant to change"...

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Crediting non-discriminatory reasons

The judicial function at the summary judgment stage is to decide whether a jury could reasonably find in the employee's favor on the claim at issue. In making its decision, a court follows certain rules. One such rule is that the record must be examined as a whole. Another is that inferences must...

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Age stereotype precludes summary judgment

The Eighth Circuit reversed the grant of summary judgment in Hilde v. City of Eveleth, February 5, 2105, finding that the employer's assumption that a retirement-eligible applicant would retire if hired for a job was age discrimination on its face. To assume that Hilde was uncommited to a...

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Eighth Circuit blows summary judgment appeal

Sometimes a court makes a decision so off-the-charts wrong, so at odds with the facts, and so heedless of the governing legal standard, one can only wonder what prejudice or stereotype motivated the court's thinking. The dismissal of Caryln Johnson's age discrimination case by a majority of the...

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Another release bites the dust

This is the image I have in mind every time an H.R. person, corporate counsel or defense lawyer learns that a Release they drafted fails to comply with the requirements of the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act ("OWBPA"). OWBPA is an amendment to the Age Discrimination in Employment Act...

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Whence came this enlightened law?

Though employment discrimination is most commonly understood as a field defined entirely by federal law, in fact it is not. States and localities play a pivotal role in the fight against workplace discrimination. Their laws often afford stronger protections and more substantial remedies than...

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When times are hard, older workers get hit the hardest

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office has found that once unemployed, it takes older job seekers significantly longer to find new work. Since the recession started, the median length of unemployment has more than tripled for older workers, increasing at a greater rate than...

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Older worker stereotypes deeply entrenched

Common stereotypes about older workers include unwarranted assumptions that older workers are tired, grumpy, more costly, harder to train, less adaptable, less motivated, less flexible, more resistant to change, and less energetic than younger employees. These stereotypes stem from depictions of...

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