IS AGE-DISCRIMINATION REALLY AGE-DISCRIMINATION - THE ADEAS UNNATURALSOLUTION

Through a series of reforms over the last two decades, the Age Discrim ination in Employment Act (ADEA) has become the most far-reaching of t he antidiscrimination statutes. In this Article, Professor Issacharoff and Ms. Harris provide a critical reexamination of both the ADEA itse lf and more generally, the use of antidiscrimination law to address th e problem of aging in employment The authors distinguish the disadvant ages that older employees face from classic claims of employment discr imination, noting the inapplicability of the antidiscrimination model underlying the ADEA to some of the problems associated with aging in e mployment The authors then turn to the development of the ADEA and its amendments, examining the role of regulatory capture in the expansion of ADEA protections. They conclude that the broad use of antidiscrimi nation law to address the problem of aging in employment without accou nting for the differences between classic claims of discrimination and the particular problems faced by older employees has resulted in a dr amatic and unjustified shift in wealth toward older Americans. Accordi ngly, they propose a series of reforms designed to address both the sp ecific problems faced by older employees and the reallocation of wealt h imposed by recent ADEA amendments.