Age Harassment

A workplace is supposed to encourage equality among its workers. After all, the productivity of the workplace is based on the skills and qualifications of workers and largely not on their other characteristics. However, hostile behaviors like discrimination still happen among workers that create tension in the workplace. This hostile environment may hinder the productivity of the workplace and therefore should not be tolerated. One such example is age harassment, where an employee is being discriminated and harassed because of his or her age.

Definition

Age harassment occurs when an employee, more commonly the older ones, receives an offensive or defamatory remark from another worker based on his or her age. This may also include forcing the employee to resign after reaching a certain age, when in fact he or she is still far from retirement. Younger employees are also prohibited from remarking, for example, that they move faster or perform better than their older co-workers. Furthermore, age harassment can also include calling the older employees with common derogatory remarks against them such as “oldies,” among others.

Dealing with age harassment

According to the law, a person may not be discriminated based on his age. Some countries allow certain industries to set a retirement age for its workers, as long as it may not be deemed by authorities as discriminatory. Although an employer may require the age of a prospective employee during application, they are prohibited to discourage older people from applying, as long as they are still deemed qualified for the job.