"This paper discusses the divergent approaches towards age discrimination in employment and mandatory retirement in the EU and the US. It challenges the perception that older workers seeking to work beyond the retirement age enjoy a significantly higher degree of protection from discrimination in the US. Even though US law strictly outlaws mandatory retirement, it does not adequately protect older employees form employer practices that are indirectly discriminatory and that may have the same effect as mandatory retirement provisions. When aiming for substantive equality, which not only prohibits mandatory retirement by law, but also prevents the practical effect of older employees being forced to retire against their will, it appears that US employees are in a similarly vulnerable position to their European counterparts."

Support: Paper