Orange County age discrimination

The Hawaii Supreme Court has reversed a summary judgment favoring a company accused of age discrimination in hiring, finding the company failed to meet the necessary burden to prove it should prevail as a matter of law.

The 59-year-old plaintiff who had decades of experience in sales was turned down for a sales position, while jobs were offered to candidates who were between 20 and 35 years her junior. Trial court initially ruled plaintiff failed to prove the reasons cited by defendant company were a pretext for the actual, discriminatory reason it chose not to hire her.

Although that decision was affirmed by the appellate court, the state supreme court in its review of Adams v. CDM Media USA, Inc. reversed, noting the company failed to satisfy its burden to produce a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason for declining to hire plaintiff – particularly when it hired candidates with far less experience.

Most employers are aware of the fact that legally, they can’t specifically recruit workers under the age of 30 or fire a worker simply because he or she hit the 55-year mark. But usually, age discrimination comes in much more subtle ways.

One such example is job advertisements that request applications from “recent graduates.” According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which has increasingly taken an aggressive stance on issues like this, here would be a situation where a seemingly neutral employment policy resulted in a disproportionate negative effect on older applicants.

It’s illegal to discriminate against someone on the basis of age, as well as gender, race, color, religion, national origin or disability.

Articles Tagged with Orange County age discrimination

Adams v. CDM Media USA – Age Discrimination Lawsuit to Proceed

Age Discrimination May Manifest in Subtle Ways