Overview

Team leaders work hard to establish an environment that is casual, open, and relaxed. However, if that environment allows or—worse yet, encourages—age-related comments, an organization may be liable for violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). This exercise asks participants to compile a list of phrases that team members might innocently use in reference to older employees—phrases that could serve as the basis for subsequent lawsuits.

Purpose

To sharpen awareness of casual phrases that could lead to charges of age discrimination.

Group Size

Any number of individuals can participate. Participants will meet in small groups of four or five.

Room Arrangement

No special arrangements are required other than seating that permits easy group formation.

Materials

Flipchart and marking pens

Masking tape

Procedure

1.Introduce the exercise by reviewing these points:

In Buffalo, New York, a 48-year-old salesman for a steel company was awarded nearly $1 million in damages when he claimed his dismissal was the result of age discrimination and not the result of poor work performance or even customer complaints as the company charged. Included in the evidence he offered was the fact that rising stars were often called “young tigers” by his manager.

A 64-year-old Missouri school bus driver used the phrase “old enough to retire” to help convince a jury she was discharged for age discrimination and not speeding, as the company claimed. Further proof was her supervisor’s comment at her birthday party: he told her he “didn’t know that she was that old.” The jury awarded her $76,000 in damages.

2.Divide the class into small groups of four or five and distribute a sheet of flipchart paper and a marking pen to each.

3.Ask them to write age-related phrases such as “Young Turks” and others that, however innocent their original intention, may in fact produce subsequent legal difficulty.

4.Have a spokesperson from each group come forward and hang the list on the wall. As he or she reviews the items on the list, ask the other groups to cross off any duplicates on their own lists.

5.Continue to have each group send a spokesperson forward to review the phrases.

6.Elicit other examples of expressions or actions that could be misconstrued or—in participants’ own experiences—were misconstrued and caused considerable harm. Point out that an offhand remark, a single sentence such as that spoken by Senator Trent Lott at the retirement party for Strom Thurmond, resulted in irreparable damage to Lott’s career and justifiable anger among millions of American citizens.

7.Debrief with a reminder that people who work together are expected to do more than accomplish their mission. They are also expected to accomplish that mission in a safe and respectful environment.

Variation

Prepare a script ahead of time for a team leader and a team member. The script should have several phrases that could be viewed as discriminatory, such as, “Are you thinking about retirement?” Have two volunteers enact the script in a fishbowl setting while the remaining participants take note of the potentially dangerous comments.

Discussion

How uncomfortable does it make you to know that simple phrases such as “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” could be used in an age-discrimination lawsuit?

What kinds of ethical guidelines should a team leader establish at the first team meeting?

How old do you have to be to receive protection from ADEA? (Answer: 40 or older.)

Quotation

“Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it don’t matter.”

—LeRoy Satchel Paige

Points of Interest

With the press, in particular, and the public in general, just waiting to pounce on offensive remarks (intentional or inadvertent), today’s employee must be especially diligent when interacting with others. Respectful and careful language must be employed at all times.

At the worst, offensive or inappropriate remarks can have career-threatening consequences. At best, they will make the “remarker” sound less than professional, as shown in these examples from the world of politics.

“And now, will you all stand and be recognized?”

—Gib Lewis, Texas Speaker of the House, who “welcomed” the handicapped (many of them in wheelchairs) on Disability Day

“This bill, if passed, will derail the ship of state.”

—Stanley Steingut, former speaker of the New York State Assembly

“There are four departments. There’s the executive, and the legislative, and the judicial, and—the Bill of Rights.”

—former U.S. Senator Kenneth Wherry

“We’re going to move left and right at the same time.”

—Jerry Brown, former governor of California