Age discrimination in the workplace

Abstract

Age discrimination is often cited as a barrier to participation in work by older people, and the workplace provides the most common grounds for complaints of this nature. Age discrimination predominantly affects older rather than younger groups (although the latter are not exempt), and is often based on myths and stereotyped attitudes about older people and older workers which can be easily refuted (Davey, 2007; Alpass and Mortimer, 2007; Gray and McGregor, 2003). Age discrimination as an issue in the workplace is not new. It was well documented in Janice Burns’ literature review on mature workers for the Department of Work and Income in 2001 (Burns, 2001) and by Justina Murray in her review of age discrimination in employment, commissioned by the New Zealand Human Rights Commission in 2002 (Murray, 2002). In 2006 the EEO Trust’s Work and Age Survey Report showed that 31% of respondents had experienced age discrimination at work (EEO Trust, 2006).