Boomers meet Age Discrimination! And you thought you could work

[leftyladyfrommo]

until you were 70. Wrong. No one wants you after 50.

I am so upset about this. My best friend is 64. She has worked for banks all of her life. She has worked for her current bank for the last 6 years. But she has had some health problems the last 3 years. There have been 2 large payouts by the bank's insurance company.

All of a sudden she is being called on the carpet over and over. Her work is really good so they can't say she isn't doing her work. She is very good at what she does.

Her supervisor is just calling her in just giving her a really bad time about just about anything they can think of. She was having car trouble but never missed work - actually rented a car a couple times so that she could get there. Called her in about that.

Yesterday they called her in and reamed her out because she had e-mailed the President of the Bank to tell him thankyou for the new computer screens (they went to flatscreen) and for the Xmas bonus. They told her that HR was monitoring all of the President's e-mails and hers was a waste of company time. (I doubt they are m monitoring the President's e-mails. I'll bet they are monitoring hers.

This same thing has happened to just about all of my friends who are getting older.

Look around you. How many older employees are working for your company. Not very many, I'll bet.

[RebelOne]

1. Well, I am 68 and working full-time

and I have had no problems. And there are quite a few other women here that are in the 50s and 60s, so I guess my company is senior citizen friendly.

[blogslut]

2. It's real

They push the older ones out because the younger ones tend to work for lower wages and are too young to concern themselves with things like retirement benefits or benefits at all, for that matter.

[glowing]

3. Sure is sad isn't it.. Expendable resources... They make too much..

bottom line.. Time for you friend to move to work at JC Penny's and Macy's helping out with the Christmas rush...

On Edit: Tell her to contact ACLU.. this is age discrimination.

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. I would like to see her sue - but she won't. She doesn't have the

resources right now to fight anyone. She just is desperate to keep her job and her insurance.

Banks are awful to work for. I worked in them on and off. I have never seen such phony, hypocritical people in my life. It certainly is no place for anyone with any kind of personality. They don't want to hear opinions that are different from their own.

Good insurance tho.

[Warpy]

4. She's lasted a lot longer than usual, probably because she's being

paid one hell of a lot less than they'd pay a man for the same job. Usually, we start getting forced out in our mid 50s.

Corporations, all of them, have nice little actuarial guides that tell them when an untrained new hire is more economical than a person who's been around for years, knows all the ropes, and has had merit raises all along.

Not only that, your friend is nearing the magical 65 and they know they'll be stuck for her full pension if she makes it that far.

They're hoping to make things so miserable for her that she quits.

This is why unions had seniority rules. Companies will always pull this shit on anyone over 50 if they can get away with it.

[leftyladyfrommo]

6. I don't think she has a pension. Everyone just has 401k now.

That is going to be another problem. All these people coming along who don't have any savings for their retirement. They just never thought this could happen to them. They were smart and had good jobs - did good work.

Its awful to get to 50 and realize it doesn't matter how good you are. You are too old and will be forced out.

I don't know anyone with a pension.

[Golden Raisin]

13. Very few people, particularly those

working for large corporations, have traditional pensions anymore. There may be some older, "grandfathered" employees who still have them, but the younger employees have 401Ks.

[Mme. Defarge]

7. This is called

"constructive discharge" and it is against the law (in Oregon, at least.) Constructive discharge involves forcing an employee to quit by making her/his working conditions so onerous that he/she feels compelled to leave. Your friend needs to document every instance of this. She also very likely has the right to review and copy the contents of her personnel file. Also, if she doesn't have one already, she needs to get her own copy of the company's employee handbook. Then, she can take all of this to an employment law attorney -- ideally someone who would work for her on a contingency basis -- to see if she has basis for a lawsuit. Age discrimmination case settlements can be in the six figure category.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Comes as no surprise to me. I was forced to take early retirement at age

54 by a little company called IBM. Luckily for me, I've spent the last 37 years knowing mainframe computers inside and out and was hired by the university when their system programmer retired after 42 years of service!

Companies will apply all kinds of pressure to get out all of those who have worked their way upward for decades to excellent salaries. In the case of IBM, it was to lose all those who were near full retirement on defined pensions.

[DURHAM D]

9. If she can hang on until she is 65 the problem will probably go away.

When she turns 65 she will go on medicare. Therefore, the bank saves money on her medical insurance. At that time they will no doubt love her - I hope.

[dkofos]

10. She should gat a personal voice recorder and use it every time she

is called to the office.

[Blue Diadem]

11. Same type of thing happened to a neighbor down the road.

She's 67 and still needed to work. They began getting on her for every little thing that before had been quite normal. Ultimately, she was let go and last time I spoke with her, she told me she was going to see a lawyer.

My DH was out of work for almost a year after a 2nd plant closing. The county job resource office told him to remove anything on his resume that could indicate age, even his years of experience. He did and began getting calls for interviews. Guess it's awful now to say you have 25 yrs experience at one place.

Age discrimination seems to be widely practiced. Talk to some of the late 20's/ 30 something management/supervisors. Some will tell you what they think of anyone over 45. I had the opportunity at my oldest kid's neighborhood BBQ, after they'd all had a bit to drink. Amazing what they think of older workers.

[YvonneCa]

12. This is happening in education...

...as well. Older educators have the defined benefit ptogram for retirement, but newer hires don't. Districts pressure older employees to leave by making their working conditions intolerable. The ACLU should get involved in this...it IS age discrimination. It is wrong and it must be illegal.

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. Maybe it's time for the Grey Panthers to make a comeback.

That would be pretty fun. We could picket. Carry signs.

[tom_paine]

16. Bushies/Nazis will just taze your old asses.

Just what country do you think you are living in, anyway? A free one?

:rofl:

In my opinion, old folks might do the nation a better service if you guys used the fact that you are near the end, anyway, and acted accordingly.

My apologies for the cold truth, but the Bushies have already shown what they think of Liberal Weaklings who march and protest. Nothing. Zero. "Please die now ASAP so we can more easily ignore you because corpses makes less noise."

Just something to remember.

We live in an evil nation in evil times in which almost all the truths are evil. Get used to it.

[L0oniX]

15. So we should care about leaving a huge debt to the younger generation?

Paybacks are hell.