Discrimination costing companies

You would think that with companies having to pay out a record $365 million in awards to victims of job discrimination, employers might stop foolishly firing or not hiring people over a certain age. Not only are businesses being challenged legally by folks who feel blatantly discriminated against, they are also shooting themselves in the foot by favoring less qualified new hires (cheap help) who often have to be replaced in six months for one reason or another. High turnover is rarely a good thing in business.


Discrimination against anyone in the workplace has been proven to be bad for business for decades, yet the lawsuits keep piling up because certain industries never seem to get the message or think it's cheaper to pay settlements than to invest in proper hiring practices. Now, with so many folks out of work, discrimination against the unemployed is becoming an epidemic. Too many employers are making incorrect assumptions about many well-qualified job candidates based on reasons that are supposed to be against the law. I've seen this happen from all angles in recent years, and I have heard well-intentioned human resource people agonizing over not being able to pursue good job candidates because of pressures from above to steer the search to a certain demographic. And most of the time, those faulty assumptions and shadowy pressures lead to bad personnel decisions that directly impact the quality and quantity of work produced, not to mention the morale of existing employees who might start getting a few gray hairs.


Hiring the best person for the job, regardless of age, race, gender or anything else, still makes the most sense to me and should be the mantra of anyone involved in hiring and staff development.


Baby boomers are a resilient and resourceful group, and would much prefer to work than to collect unemployment or to pitch a tent at an "Occupy" demonstration. But if boomers aren't given a fair chance to hold or compete for jobs (the data indicates folks over 55 are being shut out in the job market at a rate twice as high as younger people), they do seem more willing than ever to fight for their workplace rights in a court of law. And they do appear to be winning those cases.

• Read about some baby boomers opting to leave the U.S.