5 Ways AARP Is Fighting Age Discrimination

In May 2025, AARP sent letters to the House and Senate endorsing the reintroduction of the Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. This legislation would reduce hurdles to proving age bias contributed to an adverse employment action, restoring protections the U.S. Supreme Court stripped away in a 2009 decision.

AARP threw its support behind two more bipartisan bills in September 2025:

• The Protecting Older Americans Act would allow workers to pursue age discrimination claims in court rather than being forced into arbitration.
• The Protect Older Job Applicants Act would expand federal workplace protections to include people who are applying for jobs, even before they have reached the hiring stage.

The EITC for Older Workers Act, a bill AARP endorsed in an April 2025 letter, would eliminate the age cap that prevents workers ages 65 and older from claiming the earned-income tax credit (EITC), which helps low- to moderate-income workers reduce their taxes. A fact sheet developed by AARP’s Public Policy Institute found that eliminating the age cap would benefit about 1.3 million taxpayers.

And on March 31, we submitted a statement to a Senate committee hearing on “Seniors in the Workforce,” asserting that age discrimination and unmet training needs hold back older adults who want or need work.

“If Congress wants a thriving workforce, it must address age discrimination,” the statement said. “Doing so will help ensure the financial well-being of older adults, our communities and the economy.”

AARP has also been acting at the state level. For example, we helped pass laws in Connecticut, Colorado, Delaware and Oregon that prohibit employers from asking for age-related information on job applications.

AARP Oregon helped defeat a 2025 bill that would have created a tax credit for employers who took on qualifying apprentices ages 16 to 30, thus sidelining older workers.

2. Taking employers to court for unfair treatment

Over the past five years, the AARP Foundation has joined nearly a dozen age-related legal cases, focusing on those that concern employment laws, policies and practices.

“We aim to set legal precedents or clarify important aspects of age discrimination law,” says William Alvarado Rivera, the foundation’s senior vice president for litigation. “Our litigation also helps raise awareness about ageism in the workplace and promote fair treatment, as well as influence broader policy discussions around age discrimination, retirement security and workplace equity.”

In 2023, AARP Foundation lawyers joined a discrimination charge with the EEOC brought by REAL Women in Trucking, a nonprofit that advocates for women truck drivers. The group alleged that Meta Platforms Inc., Facebook’s parent company, targeted young, male users with online ads for trucking jobs rather than expanding its range to other demographics.

Ageist stereotypes predate the internet, AARP Foundation lawyers wrote in a filing with the EEOC, but this case demonstrates how “algorithms and AI can swiftly perpetuate ageist notions in subtler but equally injurious ways.”

The foundation also stepped in when a 67-year-old cybersecurity professional was rejected for positions he appeared qualified for, all because the job posting called for a “recent graduate.”

The class action lawsuit, which was launched in June 2024 against aerospace and defense contractor RTX Corp. (formerly Raytheon), alleged that the company regularly violated laws such as the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act by seeking recent college graduates or those with less than two years of work experience — a condition almost no older workers could meet. The case is pending in federal court.

3. Urging companies to rethink how they hire

Companies that recognize the value of older workers can thrive. That’s why we maintain the AARP Employer Alliance, through which employers affirm their commitment to hiring people of all ages.

The alliance, launched in February 2026, represents a natural evolution of AARP’s Employer Pledge Program. Since the pledge was launched in 2012, more than 3,000 employers, ranging in staff size from two to more than 300,000, signed on to support workers of all ages.

“We have employers of all sizes and industries who want to hire older workers because of their work ethic and professionalism,” said Heather Tinsley-Fix, senior adviser for employer engagement at AARP.

4. Advising job seekers on how to navigate the evolving job market

AARP has a slew of resources to help older adults land a new position, from advice on brushing up on interview skills to reframing beliefs about aging that may hold people back.

To locate the right positions, AARP provides instruction on how to suss out the “hidden” job market, where to find fulfilling remote jobs, ways to ramp up a job search during the fall surge and steps to polish a LinkedIn profile to attract employers.

For the application stage, we break down the elements of a noteworthy résumé, including how to integrate keywords and remove details that may date an applicant.

We also have advice on what to do for those who suspect unfair treatment due to age.

Our AARP Skills Builder for Work courses teach the fundamentals of Microsoft Office, the basics of digital marketing and nonprofit management, among other skills. We had 30,959 course enrollments in 2025 and more than 13,700 so far in 2026, according to our March 31 statement on “Seniors in the Workforce.” On-demand webinars provide tips on how to use artificial intelligence to your advantage.

One of our newest resources is a collaboration with Indeed, launched in 2025, that offers a career hub tailored to older workers, including a job board. This partnership helped 221,000 job seekers in 2025 alone find jobs of interest by either starting or completing job applications.

5. Guiding older adults through personalized coaching

Anyone 50 and older who is living on a limited income can get a helping hand from AARP Foundation programs as they reenter the workforce.

Back to Work 50+ is a free program available across the country, online and in person through select local organizations. Participants start by signing up for a free introductory workshop. They can then apply for a package that includes four weeks of group workshops and peer networking events, one-on-one sessions with a career coach, access to a coach’s office hours and a guidebook that walks them through seven steps to get back to work.

Those who prefer a quick refresher on job-search fundamentals can choose the “self-directed” model instead, which has online resources and other perks but does not include group workshops or private coaching.

AARP piloted separate employment workshops in Texas, Florida and Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2025 and will expand to other parts of the country in 2026. Two participants told AARP how the initial events helped them streamline their résumés and build up their LinkedIn presence, and they reflected on what’s important to them as they reenter the workforce in their later years.