“I feel like they're treating me differently because I'm older” is a legitimate starting point. The next step is to identify what changed and whether the facts connect that change to age.
Federal age-discrimination law generally protects workers age 40 and older, but the legal analysis is more specific than showing that a younger person received better treatment.
Look for the decision and the pattern
Common factual patterns include:
- comments about retirement, “new blood,” “energy,” “fresh faces,” or being “set in your ways”;
- a younger replacement;
- a promotion process that favors substantially younger candidates;
- a sudden PIP or new performance documentation after years of satisfactory work;
- a reduction in force that disproportionately selects older workers;
- shifting job requirements or succession planning tied to age assumptions.
None of those facts automatically proves discrimination. The employer may have legitimate performance, restructuring, compensation, skills, or business reasons. Those explanations should be tested against the contemporaneous record.
Preserve the before-and-after record
Keep prior performance reviews, goals, praise, discipline, PIP documents, job descriptions, organizational charts, layoff criteria, replacement information you lawfully know, and the exact words used in age-related conversations.
Layoffs require special care
In a reduction in force, the relevant comparison may be the selection pool, criteria, decision-makers, and ages of selected and retained workers—not simply who replaced one employee. Severance agreements for older workers can also raise special disclosure and waiver questions.