Retirement is a personal decision. However, some employers make it difficult for employees to voluntarily retire. Some employees above the age of 40 are pressured to retire. This is a form of age discrimination.
Here is what to know about it:
It’s often indirect
You may be pressured into retiring without your employer directly asking you to retire. Examples of actions employers commonly use to achieve this include:
- Reducing an employee’s responsibilities by removing key duties/high-profile clients, assigning them short-term projects or transferring them to an undesirable or low-demanding department/location.
- Reducing investment in an employee’s career growth and financial security. For example, the employee’s training/promotion opportunities become limited, their hours are reduced or they are excluded from new projects.
- Making an employee’s role redundant through reducing duties or eliminating their position.
- More criticism of an employee’s work by suddenly micromanaging everything they do or constantly issuing unjustified poor performance reviews. This can be aimed at making the employee resign, or so the employer can have grounds for termination.
It can be direct
An employer can directly encourage an employee to retire. You should be concerned if your employer asks about your retirement plans. Or offers you attractive incentives for early retirement without you initiating the conversation. For instance, early retirement bonuses or increased vacation credits. These benefits are generally legal, provided an employee is participating in the programs voluntarily.
It’s also not uncommon for some employers to inform older employees that they can’t keep up with the advancements in technology or the younger employees. And so, should consider retiring.
An employer who deliberately creates hostile working conditions or introduces elements that make an employee feel pressured to retire may have discriminated against that employee. If you believe your employer is pushing you out of your job, learn more about how to protect your rights.