Take one of the latest age-discrimination cases. Venator Group, the company formerly known as Woolworth Corp., has been accused of canning 300 older workers in the mid-1990s and hiring younger employees to replace them. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a lawsuit against the national chain in 1999 and says it has evidence that the company kept a list of workers' ages and used it to make employment decisions. The Venator Group would not comment, saying it never discusses matters in pending litigation. And that's both unfair and foolish.
Age discrimination occurs for an array of reasons.
Companies may cut older workers because they make the highest salaries. Or employers think younger employees will work for less money and be more flexible. Although the EEOC's statistics show a drop in the number of age discrimination claims from 1993 to 1999, Borek says that doesn't mean the problem's going away. There were 14,141 claims in 1999 down nearly a third from the 19,809 complaints filed in 1993. He says many employers may have just learned how to cover their tracks.