Andrew Trusevich, labor employment attorney in Dallas. Joins Houston Morning News, June 25th, 2024

Jimy Barrett & Shara Fryer take you through the stories that matter the most on the morning of 06/25/24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You got a couple of boomers instudio today, so we're still working just
for the record and have no intentionas far as you know, of retiring.
Andrew Trusovitch joins Just Labor, employmentattorney in Dallas, Texas. I
thought this is interesting that Wall Streetwants the boomers to work longer, but
supposedly nobody wants to hire them.Is that true? I would think that

(00:20):
is so desperate, so much forhaving me. You's a really important topic,
and that's exactly right. You askany mid level manager who has been
laid off reduction in force, andin the reduction in force, it's usually
the older workers, pregnant employees,or employees with disabilities that get laid off
first and trying to find a job. I always tell people, and I've

(00:43):
been doing an employment discrimination lawyer triallawyer for thirty three or thirty two years,
and that's all I do. It'syou're more likely to get struck by
lightning or bitten by a shark thanyou are to get a job as a
mid level manager once you hit aboutfifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight.
And one of my good friends hasbeen has got a master's in a
logistical engineering undergrad and electrical he gotlaid off. He's sixty two and he's

(01:08):
been looking for two years, hasput over almost two hundred and fifty applications
around the country and doesn't get anibble. And that is commonplace. And
even the former chair person of theEEOC, Victoria Lipnik, said, quote
everyone knows that happens every day toworkers and all kinds of jobs, but
few speak up. It's an opensecret unquote. And my problem is it

(01:33):
is an open secret. Everyone knowsthat happens, but the EEOC that takes
five hundred million dollars of taxpayer moneyevery year doesn't do anything about it.
So workers are really left with norecourse. Yeah, it's all about I'm
sorry, seems ever increasingly polytical onthis part of it is the mid level

(01:53):
managers. How old are they nowand how much resentment do they have about
boom or you know. I thinkthere's three three really big factors are four
on why this is happening. NumberOne, older workers tend to have been
there. And let's say they getthree percent raises a year, which is

(02:13):
pretty fair estimate in the last decade, so they're making more money than the
new people coming in right from collegeor entering the workforce, So let's get
rid of the older workers because they'remaking more money. Second, the healthcare
older workers they're going to develop healthissues like we all are as we get

(02:35):
older, and so they want tokeep health premiums down, so CEOs.
That's another reason for getting rid ofolder workers. And third, which is
tied into the second, is youknow what, Joe or Susan is sixty
or fifty five and wants this job, but they have to lift these palettes.
They're probably going to have a backinjury, and they'll file a workers
complaim let's get someone younger in thereand not hire the older workers, and

(02:59):
that's what happens. And then,of course, the Age Discrimination and Employment
Act was not passed as part ofthe Civil Rights Act of sixty Ford.
They wanted to put age in there, but the legislators in sixty four didn't
want to hear it, so ittook three years and they passed a separate
law, the Age Discrimination Employment Act, which is much harder to prove than

(03:22):
let's say sexual harassment or gender discriminationrace discrimination. So you have multiple problems
facing older workers. But the bottomline is it's an open secret. People
know what happens. That happens everyday. And it's so tough because people
do need to work longer in theworkforce with today's economy and inflation, but

(03:42):
they don't have the opportunity. AndI'll just give you real quick. One
in four of workers forty five orolder have received age related negative comments by
supervisors. Seventy six percent of olderworkers see their age as a hurdle,
and once they lose a jobey percentof those people never earn as much again.
And the only people hiring older workersare go to a convenience store or

(04:06):
go to a grocery store. There'ssome areas, there's some areas where we're
told there's just workers shortages that youknow, they can't find people to work.
I would think in those areas there'sgot to be some opportunities. But
those are and if you look atthose where the help wanted are, those
are entry level jobs where you've gotolder workers, you know, trying to

(04:29):
plan for retirement. Social Security maynot be enough, especially if they take
it at sixty two. So thoseentry level jobs, yes, those are
open, but you know, what'swhat are they paying minimum wage? Fifteen
dollars an hour, seventeen eighteen dollarsan hour, where you may have had
somebody older worker make in fifty sixtyseventy eighty thousand dollars a year, and

(04:51):
now now the only job that's thereis minimum wage or entry level positions.
That's the that's the issue for theolder work. Not painting a very positive
picture, but appreciate it, Andrew, thank you for joining us A labor
employment attorney. Andrew Trusovich. Itis