Just in case there’s any doubt, it’s against the law for employers to discriminate against job applicants or employees on the basis of age. Here’s a quick profile of the laws in the U.S. and Canada.

The U.S.

In 1967, Congress enacted and President Johnson signed the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA):

Who It Protects: Workers over 40.

To Whom It Applies: Employers with 20 or more employees.

What It Bans: The following actions are illegal:

• Not hiring persons because of their age
• Firing or demoting persons because of their age
• Paying persons differently because of their age
• Using language in help wanted ads that deters older people from applying such as “college students” or “young mothers”

What It Doesn’t Ban: Employers can:

• Consider a person’s age in employment decisions to the extent that age affects the person’s ability to do the job
• Force “bona fide executives or high policy makers” who are not less than 65 to retire from a position they’ve occupied for at least the previous two years

Penalties: ADEA violations can result in:

• Money damages to the victim, including front and back pay
• Reinstatement or promotion of the victim
• Liquidated damages if the violation was “willful”
• The victim’s attorney’s fees

The Wildcard: As with other civil rights laws, the federal laws represent the minimum level of protection. States can pass their own laws strengthening age discrimination protection. Example: Florida’s ban on age discrimination doesn’t apply to any specific age group. Thus, discriminating against a person because he or she is young is also illegal.

Canada

In Canada, there’s no national statute that covers all employers like ADEA. Instead, each jurisdiction—the 10 provinces, three territories and the federal jurisdiction (which covers employers such as airlines, banks and telecommunication companies who engage in the equivalent of interstate commerce)—has its own age discrimination statute.

All 14 Canadian jurisdictions include bans on age-based employment discrimination in their human rights codes—the equivalent to U.S. civil rights laws. These laws are substantially the same as the ADEA. For example, as in the U.S., it’s okay in Canada to consider age in employment decisions if it’s a “bona fide occupational requirement.”

The age discrimination rules don’t vary significantly from province to province. Moreover, provinces like Ontario and BC, that had capped age discrimination protections to persons 64 and younger, have removed the ceiling, in effect, banning employers from forcing employees to retire upon reaching age 65 (or other pre-designated age.)

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