Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) bans age discrimination in hiring and firing of employees. The act specifically states that an age limit on any occupation may only be specified in the rare circumstance where age has been proven to be a bona fide occupational qualification, which is not the case of Paul Schwager. But Schwager is clearly the poorest performer of this organization undergoing reorganization, regardless of his age. True, Schwager introduced statistics to show that the average age of the employees retained was 35 and the average age of employees discharged was 45.7. But to prove his case, he would have to show that of the individuals fired, many had higher job performance ratings than those younger workers whom were asked to stay on in their employment capacities, and that the jobs the older workers fulfilled were similar to those of the younger employees who were retained. (EEOC Website, 2005)
After all, Schwager's sales position at Shell was eliminated. Were there perhaps a greater number of older workers in the positions and geographic areas targeted for this corporate realignment? Schwager would...
(EEOC Website, 2005)
It is true that after the reorganization scheme, the company's pension retirement fund liabilities decreased significantly because of the reduction of older workers. But in this case, Sun Oil's Chairman of the Board in which the Chairman did not attempt to cut benefits, merely staff members. Schwager's strongest case that age discrimination occurred is the letter by the Chairman stating that the reorganization plan would provide "a better age distribution of executive personnel." But even this statement is ambiguous -- it does not state that pension reduction is the reason for the reorganization, or that…
