Tackling an age old problem in the workplace - age discrimination - Buyers & Sellers - Column

Discount Store News, March 15, 1993 by Don Longo

Several phone calls and letters I received on the issue of alleged age discrimination at Kmart criticized me for being naive believing Kmart's denial that it regularly fired or demoted store managers when they reach a certain salary and age.

None of those letters will appear here, however, because they were anonymous. Nevertheless, I want to make it clear that I do believe that age bias is a serious and growing problem in the American workplace. One reader sent a clipping of an article from The Detroit News and Free Press which covered many of the same allegations, and more, that were aired in late December on the TV show, "A Current Affair." However, the newspaper article was much more balanced than the TV report and did point out that age discrimination is "one of the fastest growing legal issues in the workplace. Last year, 30,000 workers complained to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about age bias, compared with 17 000 the previous year." General Motors, Ford, CBS, Sears, Walt Disney and American Express are among the firms that have been sued for age bias in the past two years, said the paper.

The complaints against Kmart should be, and will be, tried in court, not in the media, especially not on the TV screen, where ratings-hungry news/entertainment execs can edit, sensationalize and even fake evidence to further the entertainment value of the "scandal of the week." The recent admittance by "Dateline: NBC" (the same TV program that raked Wal-Mart ceo David Glass over the coals) that it faked an explosion during a crash demonstration for a story it did on GM trucks should tell you something about the trustworthiness of "trash" TV news. My column pointed out that both retailers could have handled the bad publicity better. Top management could have stated that if such actions were going on, they were against policy, unknown to the retailer, or were being stopped and investigated immediately.

As the Baby Boom population ages, the issue of age discrimination will become an even hotter topic for debate. All sorts of difficult and troubling questions will arise. Does an employer owe an employee a job for life? How long should you reward employee loyal? If an employee worked hard and was rewarded amply during a company's successful years, how much should that employee sacrifice during the down years? In this highly volatile business climate is anyone's job truly safe? Many firm must re-engineer themselves just in order to survive. Does that justify an out-with-the-old-guard, in-with-the-new-guard mentality?

I suspect that the successful companies will treat their oldest and most experienced workers as a valuable resource. But, at the same time, if holding on to their most experienced employees means that there will be resistance to change within the company, that mid-level managers will be uncomfortable with the new demands of the marketplace, then there will be continued turmoil and heartache among the graying workforce. Companies whose employees resist change will find they will not be around long to offer employment to workers of any age.