Human Resource Blog

ADEA in Minnesota

How does the ADEA impact my Minnesota company?

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act impacts companies across the U.S., including companies in Minnesota. However, just because the Act affects companies across the country does not necessarily mean that all companies are affected by the Act.

Companies need to meet certain requirements in order to be covered by the ADEA. For example, a company needs to have at least 20 employees that work in the business of interstate commerce. Also, those 20 employees need to have been full-time employees with a company for at least 20 weeks out of the preceding year in order for the company to qualify for coverage under the Act.

Also, employment agencies in any state are covered by the Act. In addition to the employment agencies, all local, state and federal government agencies are covered.

When a company is covered by the ADEA, the company is prohibited from discriminating against potential employees and employees that are over the age of 40. The employer may not take age into a consideration when it does its hiring. Also, when the company looks to make promotions, terminations, or when the company looks at changing the benefits that it offers th employees, the company may not take age into consideration when making decisions. In short, whenever there is a decision to be made about personnel, age must not be a consideration.

Also, according to the ADEA, employers may require that employees retire after the age of 65. However, in order to legally mandate retirement, the employees need to have held a leadership and decision –making position within a company. The employees also need to receive at least $4,000 a month in retirement income.

If an employee is unable to perform the functions of a job as an indirect consequence of age, then the employer may terminate the employee or transfer the employee to another position. However, the employee will need to be able to prove that the decision was not based on the age of the employee. CB