By Anniken Davenport
According to several recent surveys, Americans in their 70s and 80s who have already retired fear their savings and Social Security earnings won’t be enough to sustain them in their remaining years. One analysis, the annual U.S. Bank Wealth Report, found that nearly two-thirds of retired Americans think they may need to return to work. What’s more, another survey of about 3,500 adults over age 65 found that 2026 is the year nearly one in eight of them intend to apply for a job. Of those, nearly 4% reported that they are currently applying for jobs.
As an employer, you may be worried about hiring older workers. Questions may include: Are older applicants healthy enough to resume work? Do they possess the current skills necessary? How long will they stay? Unfortunately, practical as those concerns may be, legally they are irrelevant. Here’s what you need to know.
Applications. Employers cannot reject older applicants because of their age if they’re otherwise qualified for open positions. That violates the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). To avoid potential failure-to-hire claims, you should remove any indications of age from application forms and scrub such data from résumés before putting the applications into the initial selection pool.
Interviews. Before beginning interviews, it’s crucial to remind everyone involved about your age-discrimination obligations as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Because disabilities rise with age, you likely will encounter some older applicants with disabilities ranging from mild to severe. Provide reasonable accommodations if the older applicant requests them. Otherwise, don’t assume disabilities. If you ask an older applicant about their ability to perform essential functions, you must ask every applicant the same question.
Once hired. If you do hire an older applicant, make sure you provide every benefit, including training and opportunities for promotion, on the same basis as other workers.
