Age discrimination and older workers

This chapter deals with age discrimination in the workplace. Although such discrimination incorporates all prejudicial treatment against any age group that is based on being too young or too old (Kunze, Boehm, & Bruch, 2011), we limit our discussion to discrimination against older workers. The chapter begins with an overview of the aging of today’s workplace, setting the scene for why age discrimination against older workers is an issue of increasing concern (Kunze et al., 2011; National Seniors Productive Ageing Centre, 2011). We then describe the key theoretical explanations for understanding why age discrimination occurs at work and then why it is likely to have a deleterious effect on targets. Despite legislation that specifically prohibits discrimination on the basis of age (e.g., the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act in the United States, the General Act on Equal Treatment (Allgemeines Gleichbehandlungsgesetz) in Germany, and the 2004 Age Discrimination Act in Australia) and the formation of bodies to monitor discriminatory behavior (such as the appointment of an age discrimination commissioner by the Australian government), it is an underresearched area in academic literature (North & Fiske, 2012; Ruggs et al., 2013). Our chapter reviews this literature, identifying some key methodological problems and suggestions for future research.