“Great for Recent College Grads” Job Ad Can Impact as Age Discrimination in Business and at Work

Earlier in my career, we had a unique full-time job opening at our corporate headquarters which required sorting mail in the mail room and running errands for our exacting CEO, including but not limited to taking the CEO’s high-priced car for service and cleaning.  A bit of a “purple squirrel” search – e.g., the job required entry-level clerical work and higher-level, high-trust executive office tasks.

Art, a former multi-business owner and U.S. mail carrier, applied to the job. His customer service skills and demeanor were top-notch. He volunteered during his interview with me that he found retirement boring. While he shared that he was retired during the interview (per my HR training), I did not ask any follow-up questions about his retirement nor did I make assumptions about his gray hair which might – or might not have demonstrated his age. Where I live in the Albany, NY area, there’s a large population of public sector employees who can retire starting in their 40’s, and subsequently embark on second or even third careers. I had no idea how old Art was, and no need to know. After interviewing with me, the Mail Room Manager and CEO, we hired him.

He was one of the best hires of my career, working for the company for a number of years. Everyone loved working with Art, including but not limited to the CEO and me.

I didn’t find out Art’s age until his first day of work – he was in his early 70’s.

If I had promoted what eventually became Art’s job as “great for college grads,” he may not have applied and we would have missed out on a great hire.

Moreover, the cautionary-tale element in the story above is that advertising a job as “great for recent college grads” can impact as a preference to hire younger employees regardless of the intention of that phrase, which in fact is age discrimination in NYS and on the federal level – as exemplified by the recent lawsuit below:

RTX, the world’s largest aerospace and defense company, accused of age discrimination

Sixty-seven-year-old Mark Goldstein says RTX reserves positions exclusively for recent college graduates and applicants with limited work experience.

The Federal age discrimination law, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA), protects individuals who are 40 years of age or older. In New York state, the New York state Human Rights Law also prohibits age discrimination, but it extends protection to individuals as young as 18 years of age.

The impact of the phrase “great for college grads” drives accountability for non-compliance with age discrimination laws and regulations, not the intention. 

Federal and state law and regulation does not excuse mistaken / unintended age (and other protected class) discrimination.   

In my travels delivering in-person no-harassment / no-discrimination training, there is a chronic lack of understanding the meaning and accompanying personal and business accountability of “intent vs. impact.”

Understanding this key concept of “intent vs. impact” is vital to the prevention of workplace discrimination (unintended or intended) as well as other employee relations issues.  Which ultimately saves time and money (discrimination complaint investigations, fees for violations, legal fees, lawsuit settlements, etc.) in business and at work.