AGE DISCRIMINATION

The ADEA is the primary federal law prohibiting age discrimination. It protects employees and applicants who are 40 years of age or older from discrimination in all aspects of employment — hiring, firing, pay, promotions, job assignments, training, benefits, layoffs, and any other term or condition of employment. The ADEA applies to employers with 20 or more employees, as well as to employment agencies, labor organizations, and the federal government. Unlike Title VII, which protects all ages equally, the ADEA is specifically designed to protect older workers from being disadvantaged because of their age.

West Virginia's Human Rights Act prohibits age discrimination by employers with 12 or more employees — covering employers smaller than those reached by the federal ADEA. The Act protects individuals aged 40 and older and provides for compensatory and punitive damages without the caps that apply to some federal claims. This makes state law claims particularly valuable in age discrimination cases where emotional distress damages are significant. West Virginia courts have recognized that age discrimination often takes subtle forms and have been receptive to circumstantial evidence of discriminatory intent.

Ohio's anti-discrimination statute prohibits age discrimination against individuals 40 and older and applies to employers with four or more employees — the broadest coverage among the three frameworks. Ohio law allows claims to be filed with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission or directly in state court, and Ohio courts have recognized both individual and pattern-or-practice age discrimination claims. Our Canton office attorneys are experienced in pursuing age discrimination claims under Ohio's statutory framework.

Layoffs and workforce reductions are frequently used as cover for age discrimination. When a company eliminates positions and the employees let go are disproportionately older workers — particularly when younger employees in similar roles are retained — the layoff may be pretextual. The Older Workers Benefit Protection Act requires employers to provide specific disclosures to employees over 40 who are offered severance agreements in connection with a reduction in force, including information about the ages and job titles of employees who were and were not selected for layoff. This information can reveal patterns of age-based selection.

Some employers begin issuing negative performance reviews to older workers who have long histories of positive evaluations — creating a paper trail to justify a later termination. When an employee's performance evaluations suddenly decline without any corresponding change in actual performance, and the change coincides with a new supervisor, a reorganization, or an influx of younger workers, the evaluations may be pretextual and motivated by age bias.