Is targeting based on age for loss of my job illegal in Georgia?
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Is targeting based on age for loss of my job illegal in Georgia?
I ran my HR department interim for 8 months until a new director arrived. I have emails of praise from my companies CEO about my job performance in HR. My new director I feel has targeted me because of my younger age and gave me an abundance of tasks and educational resources that implied continued employment contract to me. I was even given my vacation time approval on 10/1/17 and then I was told my job position was no longer part of the HR structure effective immediately on 10/6/17. I believe I was discriminated against because of my age, as the other coworkers I work with, never received any additional mandatory educational or employment related tasks. I fully believe I was targeted. Is this not illegal?
Asked on October 9, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Georgia
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
If you are 40 or over, age discrimination against you would be illegal is you are targeted while under 40s are not (i.e. targeted for being an older employee). There is no protection for being targeted due to age if you are less than 40 (being under 40 is not a protected category), and there is also effectively no protection if you are over 40, but your colleagues (e.g. others in your department or in similar positions elsewhere in the company) are your age or older and were not "targeted," since if other over-40s were not targetted, that is strong evidence that age was not the factor in your treatment.
If you are over 40 and believe you were targeted due to be *older* than coworkers, contact the federal EEOC about filing an aged discrimination complaint.
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