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Ageism (also spelled “agism“) is stereotyping of and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. 

This may be casual or systematic. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. 

Butler defined “ageism” as a combination of three connected elements. Among them were prejudicial attitudes towards older people, old age, and the aging process; 

Age discrimination in employment can include:

• advertising for someone to join a ‘dynamic, young team’

• not interviewing someone because they are too young or too old to ‘fit in’ with other staff

• not employing younger workers because it’s assumed that they’ll quickly move on to another job

• not employing mature workers because it’s assumed that they’ll soon retire

• not providing training opportunities for young or mature workers because ‘it’s not worth it’

• making choices around redundancy, or forcing someone to retire, because of their age

Employer Duty to avoid Ageism

An employer has a duty to take reasonable measures to prevent discrimination from happening, rather than just respond to complaints that arise. This is called a ‘positive duty’. It means that an employer needs to take proactive steps to eliminate discrimination.  For example this could mean scanning their environment and considering if recruitment and employment policies and processes unreasonably bar people of certain age groups from being employed or continuing to work. An employer should put in place changes required to address this.

Source Forbes & Wiki