We have compiled a long list of words or terms used by employers to describe older employees — which the employees have later used in court as direct evidence of age discrimination under the ADEA.
Add another word to the list, which includes “ancient,” “old school,” “set in his ways,” “not a proper fit for the “new environment,” “lacking in energy,” “not being up to date,” “sounds old on the telephone,” “bag of bones,” “not enough runway,” and “a little long in the tooth.”
Meloney Sallie-Dosunmu, a corporate HR director in the Allentown, PA area, reports:
“I was on a conference call one day and heard someone refer to some other colleague’s mistake as ‘senioritis.’
WHAT????”