Calling an older applicant a derogatory name may be age discrimination and grounds for a complaint or lawsuit.
The following is a list, in alphabetical order, of some names not to call your employees or candidates. It doesn’t matter if there is no malicious intent or if the comments were a joke or an endearment. The fact that they are said may be enough to prove Age Discrimination.
Before meeting with an applicant, please read this list carefully to make sure you remember not to use any of these terms.
Aged, ancient, antediluvian, outdated, ancient and archaic.
Bat, battle axe, been-around-the-block and broken down.
You can’t teach a wary, squeaky, old dog new tricks.
Esteemed, weakened, declining, decrepit, difficult to train, dinosaur and foolish.
Old man, old statesman, emeritus, weakened and old man.
Fart, weak, fossil and rancid.
Geriatric, get on, goat, golden age, grandmother, grandfather. grey, hoary and hoary.
It has been and time.
Disabled, inactive and sick.
Long toothed, lots of mileage.
Maduro and Methuselah.
No spring chicken, not creative and not relevant.
obsolete, old, old, old bag, old fool, old fashioned, old fashioned, old goat, old guard, old hat, worn out, old, old, old school, veteran, old lady, on the last leg, old fashioned, hyped up and over qualified .
Passe, past its cousin, prehistoric, primitive, primordial, and plum,
Relic, retired, resistant to change and rusty.
Seasoned, senile, senior, shot, and slow.
Technologically challenged, timeworn and tired.
Useless.
Venerable
The worst to wear.
You could say that you would never use any of these terms in the workplace and maybe that is true. Yet employers spend millions of dollars each year to settle age discrimination cases.
Some of these terms may sound pretty harmless, like grandmother grandfather, or even elderly. If these innocent-sounding words are used to taunt older employees or candidates and make them feel uncomfortable, that may be part of an age discrimination claim, especially if younger employees are treated differently than older employees.
Some of these terms may be stereotyped for older applicants, such as, cannot teach a dog new tricks, resistant to change, cautious, technologically challenged and hard to train. A stereotype is a fixed, pervasive view of a group that is generally negative and not based on fact. The reality is that each person is different. A younger person may have technological problems and an older person may be a computer whiz, so stereotypes are harmful in the workplace.
While you may not hear many jokes about race or gender these days, it’s somehow okay to tell a joke about an old man. That is changing as older applicants and employees learn about their rights.
Can you think of other terms or words to add?