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Quiz: When Do Comments Turn Into Age Discrimination?

Find out if these remarks cross the age bias line

Kenneth Terrell

Updated November 14, 2024

En español

Published January 31, 2020

/ Updated November 14, 2024

9 Questions

87b8bf2a-e720-4e2c-9bbc-0d048e9685ad

More than 60 percent of older workers say they have seen or experienced age discrimination on the job, but very few ever file a complaint.

Why not? Part of the reason is that it's sometimes hard to know for sure when remarks or other behaviors cross the line to become something that may be illegal. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects people age 40 and older from bias in the workplace. It is the courts that usually decide whether employers have broken that law, and results can vary based on the details of each case.

This quiz, pulled from facts in recent court cases, offers examples of a few phrases that should set your ears buzzing for possible age discrimination.

Quiz: When Do Comments Turn Into Age Discrimination?

[ {
 "question" : "My boss sometimes calls me dead wood. I also saw an email he sent that said managing older employees is like “herding hippos.” Can he say that?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Yes. He’s just joking, so you shouldn’t take it too seriously.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "No. Insults like these can be proof of age bias.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "In 2018, Kathryn Moon and Julianne Taaffe got a settlement from Ohio State University after filing a federal age discrimination lawsuit against the school. Their lawsuit stated that their bosses made the “dead wood” and “herding hippos” comments, among other potential ADEA violations.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "I interviewed for a position that requires some on-the-job training I know I can do, but the recruiter said, “I doubt someone your age can handle it.” Is that illegal?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "No. Employers are always entitled to make assumptions about your qualifications.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Yes. The recruiter is judging your ability based on your age.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Lars Sandstrom, a former Army master fitness trainer, was 45 when he interviewed for a job with the Maui County Police Department. They said he was too old to handle the physical training. In 2016 the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency charged with enforcing the ADEA, won Sandstrom $24,000 in an age discrimination settlement. “Employers need to be mindful of the negative stereotypes and inaccurate assumptions made about the abilities of older workers,” the EEOC lawyer said.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Can a recruiter tell me, “I don’t think someone your age could take orders from a younger boss”?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "No. That’s a pretty clear sign you’re being judged by how old you are.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "Yes. The recruiter needs to know if you can get along with your boss.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "This is similar to another statement Sandstrom heard when he applied for the job with the police department. “The age discrimination was very blatant,” he said. “There was no attempt to be subtle or anyway disguise it. It almost put me back on my heels.”\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "I saw a job posting that said the company was interested only in people with seven or fewer years of experience. Can the firm turn me down just because I’ve had a long, successful career?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Of course not. Why would employers even want to reject someone who’s got extra knowledge?",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Yes. The posting doesn’t say anything specifically about age, does it?",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Unfortunately, some recent court decisions have stated that older job applicants can’t sue under the ADEA for recruiting practices — such as maximum-years-of-experience caps — that are more likely to hurt people like them. In 2019 the Supreme Court declined to hear the case of Dale Kleber, who was 58 years old when he applied for a job with this restriction. The company hired a 29-year-old instead.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "“How old are you?” Can a recruiter ask me this?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "No. This is obviously an inappropriate question.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Yes. Federal law doesn’t ban this question.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Surprisingly, the ADEA doesn’t explicitly ban employers from asking your age. Instead, it prohibits them from making decisions — hire, fire, refuse to promote, etc. — based on that. But businesses generally shouldn’t ask in the first place, because the question could be used as evidence of age discrimination if, say, they chose to hire only younger candidates. The EEOC says it closely scrutinizes such questions to ensure they are being asked for a permissible purpose; AARP believes that these questions should be prohibited altogether.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "Once, when I applied for a job, the recruiter straight up told me, “You’re too old” before refusing to hire me.\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "That’s also a straight-up violation of the ADEA.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "That’s rude but not really illegal.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "This happened to Lula Wright-Hill, who was 54 when she went to interview at a Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen restaurant near Philadelphia. “I was shocked,” Wright-Hill said at the time. “It hurt my feelings. It made me depressed, but my faith has grown tremendously. My body feels old sometimes, but my mind isn’t.” In 2016 the EEOC secured a $36,000 settlement for the victims in this lawsuit.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "A recruiter asked me, “How do I know you’re not going to get bored and leave?” Can she say that?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "Sure. Employers have a right to know how long a candidate plans to stick around.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "No. The only thing that matters is whether you can do the job.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "Joseph Bednarik was 55 when he was asked this question after he applied for a job in Pennsylvania. “I immediately became concerned with age discrimination,” he said. “I felt going forward with a complaint was absolutely necessary on numerous levels.” In 2017 he won a settlement of $60,000 after the EEOC sued on his behalf. To assume that an employee will be uncommitted to a position because of his age is stereotyping that the ADEA prohibits.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "I just found out that a third-party recruiter was told to look for candidates in an “ideal age range” between 30 and 45 years old. Who’s responsible for any possible age discrimination in hiring: the recruiting agency or the employer?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "The employer",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 }, {
 "answer" : "The recruiter",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "In July 2024, the EEOC reached a $500,000 age discrimination settlement with an electrical contracting company that told recruiters to use an ideal age range when looking for project manager and estimator candidates.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
 "question" : "I’m 59 and was laid off after coming back from medical leave. My boss said there was no work available but then they tried to hire someone younger for my job. Could that be age discrimination?\n",
 "answers" : [ {
 "answer" : "No. Your employer’s staffing needs simply changed.",
 "correctAnswer" : false
 }, {
 "answer" : "Yes. You are protected from being laid off due to your age.",
 "correctAnswer" : true
 } ],
 "multiSelect" : false,
 "explanation" : "In August 2024, an Ohio-based nursing home agreed to pay $150,000 in back pay and compensatory damages after it fired a 59-year-old physical therapy assistant and attempted to replace him with younger workers.\n",
 "hint" : "",
 "hintLink" : "",
 "questionImgCaption" : "",
 "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Kenneth Terrell covers employment, age discrimination, work and jobs, careers, and Congress for AARP. He previously worked for the Education Writers Association and U.S. News & World Report, where he reported on government and politics, business, education, science and technology, and lifestyle news.