Legislation includes Pappas amendment requiring EEOC to study age discrimination in hiring
Today, Congressman Chris Pappas voted to pass the Protect Older Job Applicants Act of 2021, which clarifies that older job applicants can challenge disparate impact hiring practices under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), and applauded the inclusion of his amendment to require the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to conduct a study on the number of job applicants impacted by age discrimination, and issue recommendations on addressing age discrimination in the job application process.
"Passing the Protect Older Job Applicants Act is an important step to address age discrimination, and I'm pleased that this bipartisan bill includes my amendment to require the EEOC to conduct a study on the challenges older job applicants face," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "Strengthening age discrimination laws is the right thing to do because it will protect workers and strengthen our labor force at a time when businesses are already struggling to attract talent. In our changing economy, we need to ensure that older workers continue to have opportunities available to them."
Nearly half of older job applicants report being asked for age-related information when applying for a job, and three quarters of workers over the age of 45 lack confidence in their ability to find a new job due to age discrimination.
The 7th and 11th circuit courts have held that ADEA prevent older job applicants from pursuing disparate impact claims for age-based discrimination in hiring. Both decisions rejected decades of EEOC guidance that job applicants are covered by ADEA, as well as the Supreme Court's interpretation of a parallel statute under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Protect Older Job Applicants Act clarifies that ADEA protects older job applicants.
This legislation is supported by the AARP and the National Council on Aging.
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