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CH 6] Business 101 6-31

employment opportunities for handicapped workers and Vietnam-era veterans. Section
503 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act (1973) requires all firms having U.S.
government contracts of $2,500 or more to establish programs to promote career
advancement for handicapped workers and to provide physical access for them. The
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) was
passed in 1994, which grants Military reservists and National Guard members called to
active duty, the right to return to their former civilian employment. USERRA
mandates a responsibility of civilian employers to reemploy their activated reserve

military personnel, in the United States, who have been called to active service.
Removing Employment Barriers. Equal employment opportunity legislation also
prohibits use of job specifications that limit employment to men. Employers are not
allowed to exclude women from job consideration unless they can demonstrate the job
requires physical skills that women applicants do not possess.
Until the mid-1960s, the classified advertisement sections of virtually every daily
newspaper in the United States contained two categories: “Jobs—Male” and “Jobs—
Female.” Today's professional saleswomen are involved in industries ranging from the
installation of multi-million-dollar computer systems to supplying oil-derrick parts at
drilling sites.
Ironically, many of the so-called “inherent female traits”—empathy, intuition, and
the ability to nurture long-term relationships that once allowed employers to dismiss
females as too sensitive to thrive in the business world are considered crucial to
successful selling. As one expert put it, “Studies show that women listen and speak
better and can be more service-oriented than men.”

Eliminating Discrimination against Older Workers. Historically many large firms
required employees to retire at age 65. The arbitrary choice of 65 as the retirement age
appears to have been based on the influence of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s
passage of the Social Security Act which established the eligibility age of 65 for social
security benefits in 1935. As a result, many private pension plans incorporated 65 as
the age for retirement; of course, the average life expectancy in 1935 was 59 for
Caucasian males and 56 for African-American males. Did they think that the ‘average’
male would collect the social security benefit? 6
Mandatory retirement ages were criticized for years as being discriminatory against
older workers. Critics often pointed out that Galileo, Sigmund Freud, and Thomas
Edison made some of their most notable contributions to society when they were past
age 60. These protests eventually led to the passage of the Age Discrimination in
Employment Act, which prohibits employers from using age as a basis for
employment decisions (hiring, promotions, or separations). Still, under current law,
Federal Aviation Administration air traffic controllers MUST retire by age 56.
These age discrimination laws were originally designed to protect workers aged 40
to 65, but in 1986 the law was amended to apply to all persons aged 40 and older. In
2019 more than 20 percent of adults over age 65 were either working or looking for
work, compared with 10 percent in 1985. As Congress has been raising the age limit
for social security benefits, it will soon reach 68. It is important to remember that the
older worker comes to the job market with employable skills, and a work ethic that
younger workers still must learn.

Comparable Worth
Studies by the states of Washington, Illinois and the Minnesota Commissions on
the Status of Women focused on a number of generally comparable jobs, some of
which are primarily held by men and others that are generally female dominated. The
salaries paid to holders of these roughly comparable jobs varied considerably. Figure
6.3 illustrates a few examples of current monthly salaries paid under these job titles.
In and earlier time these differences instigated women's rights advocates to argue
that American women are being systematically underpaid for work that is different
from, but just as demanding as, that performed by men. They advocate the concept of
comparable worth—a philosophy seeking equal pay for jobs requiring similar levels

Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve
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