Is this age discrimination in the workplace?
A Reader Asks This Question:
a new boss in a retail setting seems to be discriminating against certain employees based on either their age or physical shortcomings. he threatens to cut back their hours which would cause them to lose their medical benefits if they don’t switch departments. one man, who has recently (3 months ago) had heart surgery for his second heart attack was so afraid of losing his job he convinced his doctor to allow him to lift heavy objects. i heard rumor that he was allowed to keep his job only if he were to start taking fitness classes on his personal time. another woman, overweight, was forced to leave the department under threat of hours available even though she did her job well, was touted by her managers and was willing to be trained in any areas she hadn’t yet been trained in, in order to stay where she was. two other older women were threatened and bullied in this way. i’m not crazy to say this is completely immoral and unfair, am i?
so my question is….has anyone else faced this? what did you do and how did it turn out?
i very much want to call my union but am afraid they will not do anything and afraid of retaliation from my unethical bully of a boss. advice?
all of these employees are over 50. all but the heart attack survivor were productive workers…yet he was allowed to stay where he is by endangering his own health and by allowing his boss to dictate his activities outside of the workplace.
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