NPR

Are Job Ads Targeting Young Workers Breaking The Law?

Many employers use online ads to attract younger workers. Several pending lawsuits are testing whether employers using highly targeted recruitment ads can be sued for age discrimination.
Workplace civil rights law prohibits discrimination against workers 40 and older. Yet worker advocates say recruiters sometimes exclude older workers by narrowing how and where they look for candidates.

After working at a call center for two decades, Linda Bradley's job came to an end about a year and a half ago. Since her layoff, she's combed online job sites every day looking for work — without much luck.

Bradley, who is 45 and lives near Columbus, Ohio, began suspecting age discrimination after someone at her union mentioned how recruiters often target online ads at younger candidates. "I thought to myself, 'Oh, that's why I wasn't seeing some of the ads that my daughter has seen on her Facebook,' " she

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