Human Resource Blog

ADEA in New Jersey

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

	Compensation
Employee Payroll Action Form W-4 Employee Withholding Allowance Cert. Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Direct Deposit Form Total Compensation Summary

	Employment Training
Employee Warning Notice Employee Counseling Report Performance Improvement Plan Forklift Safety Kit

	Hiring and Staffing
Complete Business Forms Kit CD Form I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification Employment Application Long Form Substance Testing Consent Form Pre-Employment Reference and Background Check Employment Offer/Acknowledgment Receipt of Employee Handbook New Hire Survey

	HR Management
Confidential Employee Folder Confidential Employee Medical Folder Job File Worksheet Folder Daily EEO Applicant Flow Log Workplace Information Sheets Request to Inspect Personnel Files

Do all companies need to abide by the ADEA in New Jersey?

All companies in New Jersey will not need to abide by the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. In fact, though the Act is a federal Act, it does not apply to companies in all states or even to all companies. The Act only provides coverage to employees that are over the age of 40 that work for a covered company or agency.

In order for a company or an agency to receive ADEA coverage, the organization needs to meet one of the following requirements:

• Be a government agency at a state, local, or federal level
• Be an employment agency
• Have at least 20 employees working for a business if the business deals in some form of interstate commerce. Those 20 employees only qualify as employees if they have worked for the company for at least 20 weeks out of the preceding year.

When a company is covered by the ADEA, the employer may not discriminate against and employee or a job candidate based on the age of the employee or the job candidate. The discrimination may not occur during any time when there is a personnel decision to make, such as a hiring, promotion, benefit period, or a termination.

There are occasions, however, when the employer will be able to legal discriminate against an employee or job candidate that is over the age of 40 for reasons that may have something to do with the age of the employee. For example, if an employee is unable to meet the job requirements of a particular job, the employer could legally discriminate against the employee by terminating him or her or by refusing to hire the employee.

This sometimes happens when an older candidate is applying for a job in a warehouse that requires that the employee be able to lift more than 50 pounds. As a result of age, the employee may not be able to lift that much weight, in which case, the employee would not be able to fulfill the requirements of the job. CB