HR's Age Bias Prevention Workshop: Smart Policy Practices Under New EEOC Rules and Realities

HR's Age Bias Prevention Boot Camp Recording

Federal watchdogs are now pouncing on employers for age discrimination. Everything you do -- and say -- and fail to stop -- can become "Exhibit A" in a painful, expensive, and protracted bias claim. Why?

The number of workers between 65 and 74 is shooting skyward. In fact, it will grow by more than 80 percent over the next 3 years. The old retire-at-65 plan has gone away, as the recession spurs many employees to delay retirement. And many are working to an older age because they’re still able to, and want to.

This increased number of U.S. workers over the age of 65, combined with a rocky economy, has also led to a jump in age discrimination claims -- nearly 24,000 charges were filed with the EEOC in 2011. With organizations letting more employees go, more of them are looking for reasons to file a claim.

And now the EEOC has stepped in with a new rule you must incorporate into your policies and practices: Its “reasonable factors other than age” (RFOA) proposal has a major impact on employers by altering your obligations when creating employment policies that have an impact on older workers.

With such rules, and new regulations and court decisions coming down almost weekly, there's never been a more crucial time to master legal threats -- and protect your organization from age discrimination claims.

Participate in this half-day interactive extended webinar, and you'll acquire clear instructions for preventing the explosion in age discrimination and bias from reaching your workplace, including:

• Which employees are protected under the ADEA
• The difference between “disparate treatment” and “disparate impact” and what that means for your policies
• How to tell if offering early retirement to employees is right for your organization
• Job advertisement language that could be perceived as being biased against older workers
• Examples of effective early retirement incentives
• Workplace comments and conduct that could be construed as direct evidence of age-based stereotyping and how to avoid them
• When decisions related to layoffs or RIFs could have a disparate impact on older workers
• And much, much more...

Boot Camp Schedule 
(All times below are Eastern – please adjust for your time zone.)

Session 1: 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. . 
Today's Age Bias: What ‘RFAO’ Really Means and Examples of Conduct That Have a Disparate Impact on Today’s Workplace

• Which employees are protected under the ADEA
• The difference between “disparate treatment” and “disparate impact”
• Recent Supreme Court decisions that impact the type of evidence employees need for age discrimination claims
• A plain-English explanation of what the EEOC’s new RFOA rule covers 
  - How the EEOC seeks to define “reasonable” 
  - Whether an employer’s lack of knowledge that a policy could have a disparate impact on older workers is any defense 
  - The new employer duty to assess and measure the impact employment practices may have on older workers
• Examples of workplace policies that may have a disparate impact on older workers
• Workplace comments and conduct that could be construed as direct evidence of age-based stereotyping and how to avoid them
• Generational differences and the logistical ways to avoid other types of ageist liability caused by managerial conduct as related to one group over another

Session 2: 12:15 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. 
How to Avoid Age Bias in Your Recruiting and Hiring Practices

• Questions you may legally ask of applicants and whether obtaining the date of birth is off limits
• Job advertisement language that could be perceived as being biased against older workers
• The legal definition of “bona fide occupational qualifications” and when age-based restrictions are legal for hiring purposes
• How to frame interview questions in a way that doesn’t breed age-bias claims
• Whether you can legally require applicants to have a college degree or whether you must accept equivalent professional experience in lieu of a degree

Break: 11:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.. 

Session 3: 2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. 
Early Retirement, Benefit, and Pay Plan Challenges That May Arise Concerning Older Workers

• How to tell if offering early retirement to employees is right for your organization
• Examples of effective early retirement incentives
• How the ADEA and the OWBPA affect your legal obligations when offering early retirement
• Exceptions to the ADEA that allow mandatory retirement
• How to determine whether members of your workforce fit an ADEA exception
• When discussions of retirement constitute succession planning and when they are considered age discrimination
• Tips on what makes a neutral, non-age-related early retirement incentive
• When early retirement incentives constitute age discrimination
• How to structure releases to be signed by employees taking early retirement incentives
• Decisions concerning health insurance benefits and pay plans that have caused employers legal grief in the past and what you can learn from their mistakes

Break: 3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. 

Session 4: 3:30 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. 
When Older Workers Are Laid Off or Fired: Legal Landmines and Your Legal Obligations When Separating Employment

• How RFOA could apply in the context of a layoff or RIF
• Signs that layoff or RIF selection criteria aren’t really age-neutral
• When decisions related to layoffs or RIFs could have a disparate impact on older workers
• The type of release you must provide older workers selected for layoff or RIF to ensure compliance with the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act
• How to ensure that you have a well-documented basis for disciplining or terminating older workers -- whether it’s due to a layoff, RIF, or other involuntary separation for violation of a disciplinary policy

HR's Age Bias Prevention Workshop: Smart Policy Practices Under New EEOC Rules and Realities

About Your Speakers:

Attorney Wendy Hyland with Fisher & Phillips LLP represents employers in all aspects of employment law, including the ADA, FMLA, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, and related tort and contract claims. Ms. Hyland also works with clients on effective policies, investigations, and training.

Attorney Brian J. Kurtz is a partner with Ford & Harrison LLP, and his practice is focused on traditional labor law and employment litigation. He successfully guides clients through collective bargaining negotiations, unfair labor practice cases before the National Labor Relations Board, union organizing campaigns, strikes and picketing, and arbitration hearings. He represents companies in restrictive covenant and trade secret litigation and drafts agreements containing non-compete, non-solicitation, and confidentiality protections.