Proposed Bill Will Seek to Curb Age Bias in the Workplace

Asked why she supports strengthening Oregon’s workplace age discrimination law, state Sen. Janeen Sollman points to an older constituent who told her of his struggles to get a new job in the tech industry.

Indeed, the job hunt was going nowhere and some people started indicating that his “maturity” was a concern for them, recalls Sollman (D-Hillsboro). His reaction?

“He went and colored his hair and then started doing interviews and he got a job,” she says. “There are many laws that I wish we didn’t have to have, but unfortunately, we have to respond to wrongdoings and discrimination when we see it.”

Sollman is among those joining AARP Oregon in advocating for passage in 2025 of legislation to strengthen the state’s age discrimination law. It’s modeled after a similar effort that stalled in the House in 2023. Other supporters include the League of Women Voters of Oregon, Oregon Education Association, Oregon AFL-CIO and SEIU local 503.

The upcoming legislation will seek to address the effects of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that made it harder for workers to prove age discrimination than other forms of discrimination, says Andrea Meyer, AARP Oregon director of government relations.

“We are simply trying to level the playing field and fix what got broken by the courts,” she says.

A 2023 AARP Oregon survey of voters age 40-plus found that 92 percent agree older Americans should be protected from workplace age discrimination the same way they are from discrimination based on race, sex, national origin or religion. While those other forms are covered by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, age discrimination comes under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, which doesn’t offer the same level of protections. It prohibits job discrimination against people 40 and older.

Meyer says the proposed 2025 legislation would strengthen worker protections by forbidding companies from asking age-related questions in their initial application process and would update the statutory definition of age discrimination to prohibit the use of proxies for age — such as salary or retirement eligibility.

The protections envisioned are necessary to keep employers from asking for information that can be discriminatory to older workers, say Trish Garner, a legislative advocate for the American Association of University Women of Oregon.

“We’ve made a lot of strides in removing bias and inequity ... [but we’re] not there yet,” she says. “And while we’re headed in a more positive direction, age discrimination lags behind.”

All states except South Dakota have laws prohibiting workplace age discrimination, with some also prohibiting employers from requiring age-revealing information on an initial job application.

In Oregon, advocates have spent the past year educating lawmakers and the public about the need to update the law, Meyer says. AARP Oregon is also collecting signatures on a petition that will be delivered to lawmakers.

According to the AARP survey, 55 percent of respondents said they have seen or experienced age discrimination at work; of those respondents, 88 percent think it’s common. In addition, among those who applied for a job in the previous five years, half said they were asked for age-related information.

“Business doesn’t think the law is broken,” Meyer says. “And frankly, it isn’t broken for them. It’s working for them — but it’s not working for older workers.”

The statewide association Oregon Business & Industry opposed the 2023 bill, saying existing state law offers enough protections and surpasses federal law by protecting employees age 18 and up. The group’s communications director, Erik Lukens, says it would be “premature” for the association to comment on the 2025 legislation since it hasn’t been introduced.

Sen. Suzanne Weber (R-Tillamook) says she’ll support the legislation just like she did in 2023, when she cosponsored the original bill.

“We have to protect potential employees at all stages of a job search and application,” she says. She wants to ensure that “ageism will not be a factor that determines a person’s worth.”

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More on Discrimination: The signs for job hunters

Older workers are often advised to conceal or avoid calling attention to their age when applying for jobs and creating résumés.

“Be careful of exactly what you say, the style you use.... Don’t use tables or columns. Don’t use references,” legislative advocate Trish Garner says of tips American Association of University Women of Oregon members have heard.

While it’s easy to remove age-related information from résumés and letters, AARP Oregon’s Andrea Meyer says online applicants are often asked for education and graduation dates-—and can’t proceed to the next step without them. AARP sees it as a way to exclude older workers from getting their foot in the door.

The proposed update to Oregon’s workplace age discrimination law would prohibit employers from asking for age, date of birth or graduation date in the initial application process; graduation dates would be allowed later in the process, and if there is an age qualification, applicants could instead attest they meet it.

Julie Rasicot, a writer and editor in Montgomery County, Maryland, writes regularly for the Bulletin.

Resources:

• Push on To Curb Age Bias in the Workplace in Oregon
• AARP Research: Age Discrimination Still Rampant in U.S. Workplaces
• Learn the Language of Age Discrimination