Just like affirmative action seeks to make hiring practices fair, I believe we need a law to make hiring people over 40 fair. If a company has over 100 employees they should have a certain percentage of their workforce in each level management and non management positions that are over the age of 40. Also it should be against the law to even ask what year someone graduated high school on an application.
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Dale, there are pros and cons to this idea. I like the idea in moral principle (especially since I am over 40); however, I would definitely feel for the small family business if they had to get rid of a really valuable member of the employee family and hire me as the replacement simply to meet this sort of regulatory requirement.
And if I was the owner of that small family business, I would really resent having to be told which employees that I must hire, even at the expense of making a profit for my own family’s expenses.
I think what you are arguing for here is “Affirmative Action” for older or elderly people. For my own part, I see any sort of Affirmative Action as very discriminitory, hostile to productivity, invasive, and quite frankly, extremely costly to the American People to administer complaints, compliance, and generate legal expenses related to any and all Affirmative Action-esque mandates. [Also, we certainly dont want to be tossing any bones to the dreaded ACLU…lol <sarc>)] And we haven’t even touched how this would impact national trade policy yet, where this sudden injectiion of older less-nimble workers into the working class might cause a drain on GDP and productivity in relation to other countries that refuse to implement such self-restrictons on their productive class. Just my two cents. 
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Employers should hire the best person for the job not based on age, gender, race, or any other factor.
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I think this issue is more complex than just meeting quotas. Is the issue genuinely ageism where companies don’t hire due to age? Or is the issue that workers over 40 believe they are entitled to higher pay and benefits than is allocated for a particular job?
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I had mentioned that it would only apply to businesses with over 100 employees so not small mom and pop. There are a lot of people over 40 that have a better work ethic than the younger generation and companies are refusing to hire them due to their age. That’s against the law but currently the law doesn’t have any bite to it! Thanks for your opinion I appreciate it!
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Good point, but one could possibly argue that older workers have a better work ethic, so even if you paid them more they actually might do the work of 2 or 3 younger workers this saving companies money in the long run.
@Dalep54 That could definitely be the case. But the question I would ask in that case is, if a company has higher expectations for a more experienced worker, can you really hire them against the same job description if what you are actually expecting as a company is more from them?
Yes but this doesn’t happen currently in our world. The government tells companies how many of different races and genders have to be hired. How is this equitable?
Well I hope you’re not over 50 as this seems to be a hard age to be hired. I have spoken with so many people over 50 that can’t get a job! It’s a travesty!
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@Dalep54 I have awhile before I land in that category. And to be clear, I’m not being dismissive. I’m just questioning whether quotas will have the intended result. And at worst, I’m wondering whether quotas would end up forcing more older workers into positions they are overqualified for and forcing younger workers into positions they are under qualified for.
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Dale… Have you ever heard of “The Right to Freedom of Association”? While not enshrined in the Constitution, this human “right” is well established in libertarian circles.
Affirmative Action (incl. ADA & DEI) violates this right by forcing employers to hire employees based on criteria other than Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA). In a free society, employers should not have government infringing on their right to associate with whomever they choose. And if they require a High School graduate, that should be their choice… without government infringement.
Just as Freedom of Speech allows offensive language and ideas, freedom of associate invites racism, sexism, agism, etc. Freedom allows people to have different ideas. If you don’t like a company for taking a position that you consider racist, sexist, agist, etc., then you’re free to take your business elsewhere… and to encourage your friends to boycott that business. We don’t need to utilize government force to accomplish social change. The free market is powerful enough.
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I would caution the idea that we need more laws about how we conduct business in the U.S.
Maybe it would be a better country to live in, if there were less laws, not more.
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So what is your opinion on Affirmative action it does the same thing you’re against and no one is fixing that law? Thanks for your input.
@Dalep54 I think Affirmative Action and DEI is ridiculous. Theoretically, these initiatives were supposed to result in a workforce that was more diverse but the same skill level. The reality is these initiatives end up treating “protected qualities” as advantages rather than tie-breakers. The result is that companies end up hiring lower quality candidates.
On a personal level, I have always worked in male-dominated industries. I personally HATE the extra pressure these initiatives put on me to “prove” I’m not a diversity hire. It feels like I don’t have the luxury of making the same mistakes my male counterparts do without completely ruining my reputation. And granted, that might just be pressure I apply to myself…but the concept of “diversity hires” doesn’t help.
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Lol
I one hundred percent agree with you! So what I am saying is if the government won’t remove affirmative action hiring practices then why no incorporate an affirmative action when it comes to ageism? The if you can’t beat them join them approach.
I think Government should stay out of all that.
I’m old and I hurt too much to work effectively.
We’ve had 4 years of business hostility and job growth stifling. Maybe that’s responsible for the lack of work, for the people you’ve spoken to?
We already have a law and it’s for age discrimination which is very hard to prove.
old people are not just smart, but wise, too. they will manage and maybe open their own businesses.
Yes the law has no bite. If a government makes a law there should be a way to quantify if it’s being followed! Like the federal do not call list it is a stupid law every telemarketer still calls. The government will do checks for affirmative action but they do not follow up with ageism laws. Should be easy to prove if you look at a company with over 100 employees and their are under 5% of the workforce over 40 then the government can force them to find and hire older employees.