Case Study Undergraduate 358 words

Age Discrimination and Wrongful Termination: An HR Case Study

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Abstract

This case study examines the legal and managerial challenges facing an HR professional dealing with an aging employee who has declined to retire. The paper addresses two key issues: the employer's limited legal recourse under current U.S. age discrimination law, and the management mistakes that created the situation in the first place. Topics covered include the absence of mandatory retirement laws in the United States, the risks of wrongful termination suits, the role of performance reviews in shaping legal exposure, and how proactive workforce planning could have prevented the employer's current predicament.

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What makes this paper effective

The paper directly identifies the legal constraints the employer faces and explains why each avenue of recourse is limited, grounding its analysis in real employment law principles.
It connects the manager's past decisions — specifically, overly positive performance reviews — to her current legal vulnerability, demonstrating an understanding of cause and effect in HR management.
The second section offers constructive hindsight, proposing actionable alternatives that could have prevented the situation, which adds practical value beyond legal analysis alone.

Key academic technique demonstrated

The paper uses a problem-consequence-alternative structure: it identifies the legal problem, explains how prior managerial decisions worsened it, and then proposes what should have been done instead. This technique is effective in applied ethics and HR case studies because it moves beyond diagnosis to offer prescriptive analysis grounded in legal and organizational reasoning.

Structure breakdown

The paper is divided into two clearly numbered responses. The first addresses current legal options, covering mandatory retirement law and wrongful termination risk. The second performs a retrospective analysis of the manager's errors, focusing on dishonest performance reviews and failure to proactively reassign the employee. The argument flows logically from present constraints to past causes.

Legal Recourse and Mandatory Retirement

The manager in this scenario has very little legal recourse. Mandatory retirement laws no longer exist in the United States for most occupations. Therefore, she cannot legally compel Les to retire at age 65. Mandatory retirement laws apply only to positions involving significant physical or mental stress — a category that Les' role as manager of training and development does not qualify for.

Dismissal, Age Discrimination, and the Performance Review Problem

The manager is also in a poor position to dismiss Les. In order to terminate his employment without exposing the organization to an age discrimination or wrongful termination suit, she would need a compelling body of evidence demonstrating Les' lack of fitness for the role. The glowing performance reviews she has given Les over the past several years significantly undermine her ability to dismiss him for cause. The best she could hope to do is find a way to transfer Les to another department, or begin today to build a documented case that might eventually support his dismissal before he retires.

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What Should Have Been Done Differently · 130 words

"Proactive steps that could have prevented the situation"

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Key Concepts in This Paper

Age Discrimination Mandatory Retirement Wrongful Termination Performance Reviews HR Legal Exposure Workforce Planning Employee Retention Dismissal for Cause ADEA Compliance Managerial Accountability