Dallas Employment Lawyer Blog
If you are age 40 or over, you are protected from age discrimination under Texas Labor Code Chapter 21, as well as the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). By law, a Texas private employer with a minimum of 15 or more employees is covered by state law. All state and local governmental entities are covered by state law, regardless of how many employees they have. The ADEA applies to employers with a minimum of 20 employees in 20 or more weeks of the current or prior year. Neither Texas nor federal law protects younger workers from age discrimination.
Age discrimination includes any adverse employment decision taken against you due to your being 40 or older. Employment decisions include hiring, firing, promotions, and demotions, as well as refusing to allow someone to be trained or participate in some other privilege of employment. It is illegal for employers to include age requirements in their job notices, except when they can show an age lower than the limit is reasonably necessary to operating the business. For example, a police department may set an upper limit on the age you can be to do a particular position that requires more physical ability.
It can be hard to determine whether you’ve been subjected to discrimination based on your age. Sometimes, an employer makes comments about wanting fresh faces or critiques older workers in order to nudge older workers to take a retirement or quit. These types of comments and criticisms may be used to show age discrimination, if soon afterward you are terminated or denied a promotion. While there’s no prohibition against being asked your age or date of birth in a job interview, the question could show intent to discriminate. Usually, when age information is necessary, an employer waits to ask until after the employee is hired.