Bills to Empower Older Workers OKd

State lawmakers approved legislation Monday that would invalidate recent court rulings restricting the ability of older employees to file age discrimination claims after losing their jobs.

Separate bills by Assemblywoman Martha M. Escutia (D-Bell) and state Sen. John Vasconcellos (D-Santa Clara) passed in the Assembly and Senate, respectively, to let older workers once again sue for wrongful termination.

Labor lawyers say the California Supreme Court and a state appeals court all but closed the door on such lawsuits last year in decisions permitting employers to lay off higher salaried employees to save money.

“By definition, that meant older employees” were targeted for dismissal, said Helen Savage of the American Assn. of Retired Persons, a supporter of Escutia’s bill.

That measure passed the lower house easily, by a vote of 49 to 21; The Senate approved the Vasconcellos measure 22 to 8.

Both bills and a third measure still pending in the Senate probably will be considered together and may be combined into a single bill later, Escutia said.

Gov. Pete Wilson, who has not reviewed the legislation, has taken no position on the bills, a spokesman said Monday.

“I hope Pete Wilson sees the light,” Escutia said. “All this bill does is take us back to what the law was [before the courts ruled]. And that is, an older individual can go into court and argue age discrimination . . . much the same way you can claim race or gender” as a cause of wrongful dismissal.

Escutia said she knew of no older people being laid off in greater numbers as a result of the state Court of Appeal ruling in Santa Ana last July. (The Supreme Court reviewed the case and allowed the decision to stand.)

But during the past three years, Escutia said, 15,000 Californians have filed age discrimination complaints “and the number is rising.”

Her bill (AB 1643) would allow a lawsuit to be heard whether an older employee was singled out for separation or whether the worker was caught up in layoff notices given to several employees at once.

Narrower in scope, Vasconcellos’ bill (SB 2192) would reopen the courts only to individually targeted employees claiming age discrimination. Aides said the senator has described his bill as a “work in progress” subject to whatever changes might avoid a Wilson veto.

In the Assembly, several conservative Republicans joined the party’s moderates and most Democrats in approving Escutia’s measure.

A host of business and employer organizations oppose both bills, as well as the third measure introduced by state Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco).

The court rulings, said Julianne Broyles, a California Chamber of Commerce lobbyist, are fair and confined to ensuring that employers “should be able to use economic factors in managing the workplace. . . . I don’t think anyone ever meant that someone over 40 has tenure, but that’s where the Escutia bill is headed.”

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Assemblyman Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar) also opposed the new legislation. “Everybody in this house is opposed to seniors being discriminated against,” he said. “But this bill is vague and ambiguous and . . . invites litigation for the sake of litigation.”

Savage of the AARP said older people need special protection from receiving pink slips at work.

“It’s important that they find employment, advance and maintain their jobs--and not be the first to be let go when downsizing occurs,” she said.

The group, which represents people over 50, is concerned because “between 35% and 40% of our membership is still working,” Savage said.