Age Discrimination Is the Bias Nobody Takes Seriously

I was 58 when it happened to me. After 26 years at the same company, I was “restructured” out of my position. The official reason was a reorganization. The unofficial reason was obvious to everyone in the building.

They kept three people in my department. All of them were under 40. I had trained two of them.

When I started applying for new jobs, I learned something painful. My experience, which I had spent decades building, had become a liability. I was “overqualified.” I was told I might “not be a culture fit.” Recruiters looked at my graduation date and stopped returning calls.

I am not telling this story for sympathy. I am telling it because my experience is common, it is documented, and almost nobody treats it as the serious civil rights issue it is.

The Numbers Do Not Lie

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act became law in 1967. It protects workers 40 and older from discrimination in hiring, firing, pay, and promotion. That was nearly 60 years ago.

Yet according to AARP, roughly two out of three workers aged 45 and older have seen or experienced age discrimination on the job. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission receives thousands of age discrimination complaints every year.

And those are just the people who file. Most do not. They accept the buyout. They take the hint. They quietly downsize their expectations and move on. The real number of people affected is much higher than any filing data suggests.

A landmark study by economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco sent out tens of thousands of fake job applications. The resumes were identical except for age indicators. Older applicants, especially older women, received significantly fewer callbacks than younger ones with the same qualifications.

This is not a mystery. It is not a feeling. It is measured, repeated, and confirmed. Age discrimination is real, widespread, and systemic.

Why Nobody Takes It Seriously

Other forms of workplace discrimination have, rightly, received enormous attention in recent decades. Discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability are recognized as serious moral and legal failures. Companies invest billions in diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.

But age? Age rarely makes it onto the DEI agenda.

There are several reasons for this, and none of them are good.

“It happens to everyone.” This is the most common dismissal. Everyone gets older, so ageism is somehow less harmful than other biases. This logic makes no sense. The fact that aging is universal makes ageism more harmful, not less. It means everyone is eventually at risk.

Older workers are seen as expensive. Higher salaries, more health insurance costs, closer to retirement. In a corporate culture obsessed with cutting costs, older workers have targets on their backs. This is not a justification. It is an explanation of why companies are motivated to discriminate and why they rationalize it.

“Culture fit” covers a multitude of sins. This vague phrase has become the polite way to reject older candidates without saying their age. What does “culture fit” mean in practice? Often it means “young.” Open offices, ping-pong tables, happy hours. The culture is built around a 30-year-old lifestyle, and anyone who does not match is screened out.

The legal bar is extremely high. In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled in Gross v. FBL Financial Services that age discrimination plaintiffs must prove that age was the “but-for” cause of the adverse action, a much harder standard than what applies to race or sex discrimination cases. This decision gutted the protections of the ADEA and made it extremely difficult to win an age discrimination lawsuit.

Ageism is internalized. Many older adults accept age discrimination as normal. “That is just how it is.” They do not fight because they believe fighting will not work. And often, they are right.

The Human Cost

Let me be specific about what happens when an experienced worker is pushed out in their late 50s or 60s.

Financial devastation. These are often peak earning years. Losing a job at 58 is not the same as losing one at 38. There is less time to recover. Retirement savings take a hit. Some people never return to their previous income level.

Health consequences. Job loss at any age is stressful. But for older workers, the stress combines with age-related health issues. Depression, anxiety, and physical health problems increase. Some studies link involuntary early job loss to shorter lifespans.

Identity crisis. Work provides purpose and identity, especially for people who have spent decades in a career. Suddenly losing that role can be psychologically devastating.

Social isolation. Work is a primary source of social connection for many adults. Losing it severs those ties at an age when building new ones is harder.

Erosion of expertise. When companies push out older workers, they lose institutional knowledge that took decades to build. They lose mentors, steady hands in a crisis, and the kind of judgment that only comes from experience. This is not just a loss for the individual. It is a loss for the organization and for society.

I know all of these things because I lived them. The first year after I lost my job was one of the hardest of my life.

The Myths That Enable Ageism

Age discrimination thrives on stereotypes that are repeated so often they feel like facts. They are not.

“Older workers cannot learn new technology.” Research consistently shows that older adults can and do learn new skills. The learning curve may be different, not steeper, but different. Given adequate training and time, older workers perform just as well with new tools.

“Older workers are less productive.” Studies from the Max Planck Institute and others show that productivity does not decline with age for most types of work. In fact, older workers often compensate for any physical slowdown with better judgment, fewer errors, and more efficient work habits.

“Older workers are just biding their time until retirement.” Many older adults want to work, need to work, and plan to work well into their late 60s or beyond. The assumption that they are coasting is insulting and usually wrong.

“Young people bring fresh ideas.” Fresh ideas are valuable. But so are experience, context, and wisdom. The best teams have a mix of ages. Replacing older workers with younger ones does not make a team more innovative. It just makes it less balanced.

What Needs to Change

I have spent the years since my own experience studying this issue, advocating for change, and talking to hundreds of older workers who have been through similar situations. Here is what I believe needs to happen.

Strengthen the legal protections. The Gross decision needs to be reversed by Congress. Age discrimination plaintiffs should face the same legal standard as those alleging race or sex discrimination. The Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act has been introduced multiple times. It needs to pass.

Add age to DEI programs. If your company tracks diversity in hiring and promotion by race and gender, it should track age too. If your ERGs include groups for women, LGBTQ+ employees, and people of color, include one for older workers. Age belongs in the conversation.

Ban graduation dates on applications. Many companies still ask for college graduation years, which is a transparent proxy for age. This should be removed from applications, just as many have removed questions about criminal history and salary history.

Audit hiring algorithms. Many companies use AI to screen resumes. If those algorithms penalize experience, career gaps (common for older women), or graduation dates, they are automating age discrimination. These systems need regular audits for age bias.

Fund retraining programs. Older workers who lose jobs need access to affordable, practical training programs. Not “learn to code” boot camps designed for 22-year-olds, but targeted programs that build on existing skills and connect to real job opportunities.

Change the culture. This is the hardest part. Ageism is deeply embedded in our culture. Birthday cards that mock aging. Jokes about being “over the hill.” Media that treats older people as irrelevant. We need to challenge these attitudes the same way we challenge racist and sexist stereotypes. Because that is what they are: stereotypes.

A Personal Conclusion

I eventually found a new position. It took 14 months, over 200 applications, and more rejection than I care to count. The job paid 35% less than my previous salary. I took it gladly because the alternative was worse.

I am now 63. I am good at my job. I contribute every day. I mentor younger colleagues who are grateful for the help. I have adapted to new technologies and new ways of working because that is what professionals do, regardless of their age.

But I remain angry. Not about what happened to me specifically, but about a system that treats experience as a burden, that discards people at the height of their abilities, and that gets away with it because nobody considers age discrimination worth fighting.

Other civil rights movements have shown that change is possible when enough people speak up. It is time for older workers to speak up too. Our skills, our experience, and our dignity are not diminished by a number on a birth certificate.

And until the rest of society agrees, this will remain the bias nobody takes seriously. That has to change.

Robert A. Williams is a workforce policy advocate and former corporate operations director based in Chicago. For corrections or updates, please contact us.