Human Resource Blog

Illinois Age Discrimination

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I’m a manager in Illinois. I’m tired of immature employees, and want to hire only applicants who are over the age of 25. Is this age discrimination under any law?

You would be entirely within your rights to do so. No Illinois or federal law says that hiring only workers over 25 would amount to age discrimination. Usually, it’s legal to offer preferential treatment to older workers, but illegal to offer it to younger workers.

Court cases uphold your right as an employer to give preferential treatment to older workers. Take the case of retirement plans. Employers may offer them only to workers over a certain age – 62 or 65, for example. On the other hand, courts have not supported the preferential treatment of younger workers. One judicial decision, for example, ruled that an early retirement buyout in the rail industry for workers aged 50 to 60 discriminated against workers beyond age 60. The plan had to be expanded to include workers over age 60. That was despite the fact that workers in that older age group qualified for a completely different pension package already.

You might, however, choose some other standard besides age in order to establish maturity. Perhaps you could hire only workers with 8 years or more of experience. You might also choose to hire only those people who have shown mature behavior and adult judgment in other places of employment.

The key is that federal laws regarding age discrimination apply to workers who are 40 years old or more. It makes no provisions for workers under that age. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, known as the ADEA, makes it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age, for example. But it only pertains to those over 40. The law concerns hiring, promotion, pay, layoffs, training, and harassment connected with age. It applies only toe businesses with 15 or more employees.

Keep in mind, however, that age has been ruled a “bona fide occupational qualification.” That may apply to either older or younger workers. Police departments may hire only applicants over age 21, and airlines may retire pilots over age 65, courts have found.

Beyond the ADEA, there is the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, prohibiting age-related discrimination where federal funding is involved.