Forced to Retire Because of Your Age

There is a terrifying age in every unemployed worker’s life where companies find them too old to be given a job and where they are also too young to receive a pension. This is a bleak situation for many older workers and this is getting more and more common. You should consider this possibility happening to you and prepare for such a terrible event…

JUST HOW COMMON IS IT?

The US Problem

One of the best articles I found online about being forced to retire when you reach old age is from ProPublica. Their article is titled: If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours. This is a cautionary article of being unprepared to this growing concern about workers reaching old age and being targeted for layoffs.

The article cites real life examples of older workers who due to circumstances beyond their control are laid off and are forced to take on jobs that are severely beneath their original salary and their previous job roles and title. The stories are heart wrenching full of people whose lives are permanently scarred and affected by their experiences with no good end in sight.

For example there is the story of Jaye Crist who will turn 61 in 2021. He previously had a $100,000-a-year salary before being fired from his mid-level executive job at RR Donnelley. Now he earns less than half his previous salary working three (3) jobs. He works regular company hours at a local print shop.

After this job he works from 7 pm to 2 am at the front desk of a Planet Fitness Gym. Then he works at bartending on Sundays. He has at most 3 hours of sleep only per day. His wife does not work due to mental problems and his daughter is still in college. He still pays amortization for his house and car as well as pays other bills.

His story has not only been featured in this article but also in the US television news program PBS NewsHour. A video of his story can be found in YouTube titled: Why more older workers are finding themselves unemployed as retirement approaches.

This YouTube video is just one among many of the YouTube videos produced by this US television news network about the many issues of older people at work especially in the time of pandemic. One of the highlights of the video is when Jaye Crist admits that he has laid off old people himself and he is torn by it.

He admits he acted like a bad person and when the same thing happened to him he admitted that he learned what the old people he laid off must have experienced. That experience according to him is a life shattering experience. I have no more information of what happened to him during the pandemic but what is especially concerning is that he works for two (2) companies that have closed due to the pandemic.

The Korean Problem

Another example would be the situation in Korea. There is a strong push for Korean companies to retire the aging workers usually at the age of mid-fifties. This is usually an age where many Korean workers still have no solid financial resources built up to support themselves in their remaining days. Government benefits also are not enough to support the now unemployed Korean worker.

One of the defining thing in Korean society is the presence of so many small businesses especially being tended by older people. This however is not a real sign of entrepreneurship but rather a "forced" entrepreneurship. This means that for many of these people starting a business is a necessity because no one would give them employment anymore and they cannot rely much on government benefits.

A more sadder news even comes. Because these small business owners are not really meant or trained to run a business they usually fall in debt to loan sharks. Loan sharking is actually a very profitable business in Korea. Being in debt is very much looked down in Korea and people would go to extreme lengths to pay off their debt even if it means going deeper into debt.

If you Google the keywords: ”Koreans being forced to retire early” you would see many articles regarding it which includes the retirement situation in Korea. There is also this short YouTube video from Arirang News title Spike in no. of Koreans forced to retire in their 40s, 50s.

True Life Experiences

In one of the companies I previously worked for a manager one day hired a young worker and started assigning tasks to the older worker which were not a part of his job description. The manager even began to scrutinize heavily the performance of the older employer. Soon the young worker was doing tasks that the older worker used to do.

This actions by the manager could have hastened the departure of the older worker as he left after finding another job. Later I found out that the company does indeed has a goal to cut employee expenditures by cutting salaries. The older worker was targeted because they consider him overpaid for the tasks he did.

CAN A COMPANY FORCE YOU TO RETIRE?

As can be seen by the previous example a company can “ease you in” into retiring. Besides the previous ways there are other ways the company can force you to retire even though you are not planning to. It is to be noted that most companies are not heartless organizations that just throw out older workers once these workers reach a certain age.

We could say that most companies are looking after the totality of the company and not just the worker’s benefit when they make these decisions. In good times companies hire more people. In bad times companies let go of people to better the position of the company. It is as simple as this.

A company can layoff an employee when it is losing money and the employee itself has a relation with the company losing money. A company can fire when your services are no longer needed by the company. This is especially true if you are just a contractor in the company. In fact many job positions today are being done by contractual labor.

If you do not voluntarily retire a company may make your working life very uncomfortable. Some would say a living hell. They can for example demote you. This could affect your pay but what is mostly affected is your pride and standing in the company. No one wants to be demoted especially if it is very publicly known. It is almost an insult to many workers.

You will face a situation where the workers you previously commanded on are now just equals and might even be your superiors now. Any coworker especially a previous subordinate can have a laugh at your predicament. I do not know of many workers who can stand being demoted. Most likely these workers would risk resigning rather than face the embarrassment.

There are real life stories where companies leave a worker in an empty room giving them no work at all. This is an extreme measure that some nasty companies do to drive workers to quitting. Other companies simply assign employees impossible to do tasks where they fire the worker once the worker failed at their task.

WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?

The law clearly states that companies cannot discriminate a worker based on age. Workers also cannot be forced to retire because of age. A company can however terminate the employment of any worker due to many legal reasons. This is bad news to workers at any age. The news is even badder to lowly paid workers who do not have much legal resource to fight big companies.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Realize the Possibility

Many workers usually get complacent once they settle in a job. This is because they settle into a routine where all they have to do is put in a set number of hours working for someone in exchange for regular and stable pay. They fail to realize that due to increasing business competition many jobs are now unstable and could be lost anytime.

A worker needs to assess always if their job can be done by a younger and lesser paid employee. They also need to know if they are already overpaid in their job according to industry standards. A worrisome sign is when the company is losing money. Another worrisome sign is when management and worker relations starts to turn bad.

Prepare for a Rainy Day

Workers at all levels must live beneath their means. Many workers especially those who earn a big salary buy expensive houses, car and accessories to display their financial status in society. Think of this. If you bought a house the mortgage payment could easily take a median of twenty (20) years.

If you lose your job within those twenty (20) years you could easily lose your house if you are not able to make payments. This is especially serious when you consider that most household debts around the world are concentrated on paying for the house. For example 3 in 10 adult Americans have no emergency savings and would easily fall in debt within three (3) months.

So all people must have emergency funds and savings where their ultimate goal is not to be dependent on a salary or a business income. This is very hard to do but the more people work at it the closer they are to reaching their goal. In fact the FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) movement is gaining popularity with many people from all over the world.

Many people should also strive to have their own business one day even just a small one. The biggest advantage of owning your own business is that you will never be fired from your own company assuming you own a majority or all the stakes in your business. You might end up one day when your pension is not enough to live on and the only company that would hire you is your own business.

Keep updating your skills to remain competitive not just in business but in life itself. Many workers as previously mentioned usually become complacent in their jobs and forget that the business world can pass them by where they become obsolete if they ever go back to the job market. Workers must continually prove that there is demand for them not only in the company they work in but in the business world itself.

Treat Yourself as a Business

An employee is a business unto themselves with their company as their main customer. They must not shortchange themselves into thinking that their company owns all of their work. For example a salesperson for a company can bring their clients to their new company or to their own business if they get laid off by their old company. This includes their network of contacts as well.

If a worker brings to the company more than their agreed upon tasks and specialty then the worker is entitled to it. For example if a salesperson has a technique for faster and more sales than what the company teaches they can take it to their new company or business without them needing to surrender it to their old company.

There are stories where nasty companies force the old employees to divulge their trade secrets to younger employees and then the company fires the old workers and replaces them with the younger workers they just trained. If a worker has a trade secret that is outside of their company responsibilities they should keep their trade secrets.

Be Practical

It is understandable to feel upset and even angry when a company fires you. However determine first if the company has good reasons to fire you and if they have not done anything underhanded to force you to resign or lay you off. If they have valid reasons check your anger and do severe your relations with them.

They may be able to help you by giving you a contract job or a referral. Who knows they might even hire you again when things get better for the company. You should also be realistic and admit that you might have to start from scratch especially when it comes to salary. This is where the “living beneath your means” prepares you for.

You would also need to get used to probably working with workers younger than you doing job tasks that are beneath your previous job tasks. You might even feel out of place most of the time. My only advice based from experience is to do your best to blend in and people would soon forget about your age, appearance and so on.

CONCLUSION

Older workers are getting increasingly targeted to be laid off by companies due to the greater expense of keeping them as compared to young and even new workers. Older workers tend to be paid higher for the same job a younger person can do. Older workers also tend to use up more health benefits due to their age.

Most companies are only doing this mainly because of financial difficulties. “In good times companies hire. In bad times companies fire.” Workers must prepare for this possibility by saving as much as they can when it does happen to tide them over. They should ideally be saving to be free from being dependent on a salary to live.

When the inevitable does happen the worker must make sure that they have done the preparations and admit that it is a fact of life. They must be prepared to start over and over again and may admit that their best career days are well past them. That is why again it is advisable to save as much as you can and start your own business where you cannot be fired from.