Call for Political ActionThe Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act

Continuous Lobbying efforts on the part of large employers have prevented sorely missed revision of laws, protecting American workers from age discrimination. As the baby boomer generation is progressing through the years, a significantly larger number of qualified workers find themselves laid-off and without future employment opportunities. Sinking such a large class of people (the number of living "baby boomers" is estimated to be 70-80 million people) in a deep sea of unemployment would have a detrimental effect on our economy and put a major burden on younger people who will need to pay taxes and support their unemployed parents. Clearly, without changing the existing legal framework covering the layoffs of older employees, due to the level of their salary alone (which is considered legal today), there will be hell to pay in the near future.

(Editor's note: many of the terms mentioned below include links that explain their context, please click on a  term if you are not familiar with it or simply need more information)

Former Sen. Tom Harkin from Iowa while he was still serving in the U.S. Senate, attempted to pass legislation that will effectively overturn the Gross ruling and place the ADEA on equal footing with Title VII with respect to “mixed motives” cases. The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act (POWADA) proposed to allow ADEA plaintiffs to prevail in “mixed motives” cases as long as these plaintiffs can show that age was a “substantial motivating factor” in the employer’s adverse employment decision.

The proposed POWADA has been "grinding water"  in the U.S. Senate for years (most good legislation is known to die there) and consequently it might take a while before it passes, if ever. While passage of this act will not prevent employers from firing older workers due to their higher pay, it will prevent employers from discriminating against employees (based on their age) with impunity, in cases where those employees happened to be paid more. The effect would be similar to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which addressed and corrected the Supreme Court’s distorted interpretation of Title VII.  Our only hope is that POWADA or similarly proposed (bi-partisan) laws may address and correct the distortions in the interpretation of the ADEA.


I highly recommend reading the article below (click on the link) and propose that we petition our legislative representatives in the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Senate to address age discrimination in employment, before it is too late :

Senators Want To Clean Up After Supreme Court Decision That Exposed Older Workers To Discrimination

Please be proactive for the sake of our future and our children's future.

--Dr. Flywheel