HR Management & Compliance

Be Careful When Training Older Generations

Today’s Advisor contains answers from our “Ask the Expert” feature on HR.BLR.com..

The question is, “Is it permissible to exclude employees from training if they are expected to retire soon?”

Here is how our expert responded:

Especially in light of the economy, it is understandable that an employer would want to invest its training dollars wisely and avoid situations in which an employee retires shortly after training has been completed. However, employers that exclude employees from training on the basis of their age (or other protected status) likely will be treading in murky legal waters.

Susan Prince, J.D., legal editor at BLR® (www.blr.com), cautions against asking older workers whether they plan to retire and advises employers not to base training decisions on an employee’s age.


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Offering an early retirement package is one thing, but refusing to train older workers is an entirely different thing—even if the company is concerned about them leaving before it sees a return on its training investment.

“Employers may offer early retirement incentives without violating the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, but acceptance must be completely voluntary,” Prince explains.

Refusing to provide training to a retirement-age employee due to a suspicion that the employee will not remain with the company would likely be frowned on by the courts. Besides, there is no guarantee that younger workers who receive training will stay longer than their older counterparts. “Any employee that is trained may terminate employment at any time, so a younger worker might leave the company sooner than an older worker,” Prince points out.

“Basing a training decision or an inquiry on an employee’s age may create a problem for any employer,” she adds. “The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) regulations prohibit employers from discriminating in apprenticeship programs on the basis of age unless age is a bona fide occupational qualification or the decision is based on a reasonable factor other than age. The two scenarios are different, but similar enough to read the EEOC’s intent.”


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