21 Dec 2012

American Samoa government counters age discrimination

1:20 pm on 21 December 2012

The American Samoa Government has agreed to a process for government-wide reinstatement of ousted older workers and to extensive relief to prevent age discrimination.

It is part of a settlement with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which had been suing the government over allegations that its forced transfer of staff constituted age discrimination.

The Commission had claimed that the American Samoa government was removing older employees from its work force in order to create jobs for younger workers.

It said older staff were involuntarily reassigned into undesirable positions to pressure them into retirement or resignation.

Now, in a new deal, the territorial government has agreed to create a reinstatement process for all government workers over the age of 40 who were terminated or forced into retirement because of age discrimination.