Prohibited employment policies/practices.
Please read each passage below, I need a few sentences in response to each part. Please use at least one source. Please cite the reference(s) properly. Part 1 and 2 can be on the same word document, however, please keep them separate by labeling them.
PART 1
2011 Trinity Protection Services: This was a case where both men and women of different ages and due to scores on an arms qualification shoot. Essentially those younger were invited back to requalify from the failure because HR indicated that they needed employees now, while the others were not given an opportunity, was this due to age?
If I am the HR person handling this let me pose a question. Would you want someone that is older with a potential for more medical issues holding a gun in the event a situation occurred? If I am looking to protect the employees and the consumers, am I not doing what is best? All of these are concerns when it comes to HR and what they might be protecting us from. If anything happened, are you able to justify what happened without a doubt? All of this is part of HR and the thought process of why we might have selected those that failed to come back and re-test.
So, let me pose a question when it comes to ageism: “In other words, does my calling something ageist make it so, or do instances of ageism exist independent of an individual’s pronouncement? Finally, on a related note, did “ageism” exist before the term was coined in the 1960s, or is it a new phenomenon?” (Goldman 2021)
2011 AT&T: Age discrimination against a class of retired AT&T workers based on age. Essentially they chose early retirement and the company stated that they could not be rehired. I have to say that this essentially comes down to HR. If you offer a package for early retirement what are all the details? Did you early severance indicate you could not be rehired? What does the fine print state?
References:
Goldman, M., & Higgs, P. (2021). Ageism: A Health Humanities Approach. University of Toronto Quarterly, 90(2), 71–79. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.3138/utq.90.2.01
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Selected list of pending and resolved cases under the age discrimination in employment act (ADEA). Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/litigation/selected/adea.cfm
PART 2
2011 Texas Roadhouse: It is stated that the company has not hired any person 40 or older for front position jobs since 2007, and has instructed hiring managers to look for young employees to work in the front positions in the company. The older applicants would be asked “do you think you would fit in” and told “there are younger people who will grow with the company” or “you seem older to be applying for this job”.
In this case as the HR person handling this situation I would be looking at experience as a server or bartender and the background of other places the person has worked. This company would be in lieu of a potential lawsuit due to age discrimination of a person over 40 years old. “Age discrimination involves treating an applicant or employee less favorably because of his or her age. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) forbids age discrimination against people who are age 40 or older” (EEOC, par.1). Just because a person is 40 or older if they have experience and know how to do the job they should not be told they are too old to work in the field.
2012 Hawaii Healthcare Professionals, Inc: Is allegedly told a 54 year old employee she was fired because she looked like a bag of bones, looks old and sounds old on the telephone. A manager was forced to fire her.
As the HR person in this case, you should of looked at the performance and if she was in good health or starting to have health issues that would cause her to not do her job . Offer her an early retirement package, look at her performance to see if she is still working up to expectation of the company. All of these would be to defend due to them being sued for unlawful firing of an employee. “Employers are prohibited from discriminating against an individual for a number of reasons, including their age, sex, race, nationality, religion, disability and pregnancy status” (EEO, par.1). In this case the company would be sued due to the things that they said when they fired the women.
Resources:
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (n.d.). Prohibited employment policies/practices. Age Discrimination. https://www.eeoc.gov/age-discrimination
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity, (n.d.), Equal Employment Opportunity Violations, https://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/equal-employment-opportunity-eeo-violations.html