The Problem:
There has been a devastating effect on American Citizens, in the workplace, who are over the age of 40. The discrimination is illegal and needs to end. These are often well-educated and/or highly skilled American workers with a long work history who are being wrongfully weeded out in droves by preferential hiring practices.
Employees at such companies use keywords to filter out older workers so employers never their resumes while never telling the older workers that such practices are being used against them.
Older worker trust and rely on such tech companies assuming the playing field is equal and therefore never has a chance to fight back because the truth is hidden from them. This is an act of economic attack against an entire group of individuals who are not done working and have an incredible amount to give to our workforce with their talent and experience. They also have the right to equality and to enjoy the same financial advantages as their equally skilled younger workers. It is unAmerican to systematically remove their right to prosper and flourish due to discrimination.
Many of these individuals will live into their hundreds. They need and deserve good jobs, and good paying jobs, relative to their experience and skill. Yet, over and over we see them ignored by tech companies that refuse to follow the laws of our country and allow for fairplay.
Studies show that older workers are more loyal, reliable and productive. No one has the right to push them off to the side. They are American citizens and they have equal rights. We must enforce the law.
How can we fix this?
A Solution:
Live audit the records of online tech companies.
Guestimate the approximate ages of those individuals since age is not listed on resumes - use the same factors that the tech companies use to weed out older workers.
Ensure these online job listing and referral sites do not create 'mock sites' to hide their clandestine activities (it was a practice UBER used to evade the authorities in cities where it was not suppose to operate).
Add a sliding 'incentive tax'. If the eligible number of workers is x and the total number of jobs received by the online job resource platform is 40-60% lower than the average for Americans over age 40 seeking employment, we could implement an 'incentive tax' to corporations that violate the law.
If a company places an average of 20% fewer Americans over the age of 40 than is statistically likely, it could be charged an 'incentive tax' of 5%
if a company places an average of 40% fewer Americans over the age of 40 than is statistically likely, it could be charged a 'incentive tax' of an additional 8%.
If a company places an average of 60% fewer Americans over the age of 40 than is statistically likely, it could be charged an 'incentive tax' of an additional 10%.
Continual violators (i.e. 3-5 consecutive years) could be banned from operating.
Employment ratios would vary and be realistic to the industry, but not based on unfair averages that currently exist.
The idea of the incentive tax is to motivate companies to employ fair hiring practices and to make it hurt the violating company's bottom line if they discriminate against a person due to their age.
A Case for Hiring Older Workers by Harvard Business Review
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