Be Careful What You Call an Older Employee

Calling an older employee a derogatory name can be age discrimination and grounds for a complaint or lawsuit.

Here is a list, by alphabetical order, of some names not to call your employees.  It does not matter if there is no malicious intent or that the comments were intended as a joke or an endearment. The fact that they are said can be enough to show age discrimination.

Before you meet with an older employee or older applicant, you may want to peruse this list so that you remember not to use any of these terms.

A
Aged
Ancient
Antediluvian
Antiquated
Antique
Archaic
B
Bat
Battle-axe
Been around the block
Biddy
Broken-down
C
Can't teach old dog new tricks
Cautious
Codger
Coot
Creaky
Crone
D
Dear
Debilitated
Declining
Decrepit
Difficult to train
Dinosaur
Duffer
E
Elder
Elder statesman
Emerita
Enfeebled
Elderly
F
Fart
Feeble
Fossill
Fusty
G
Gaffer
Geriatric
Getting on
Goat
Geezer
Golden-ager
Grey
Grey-haired
Grizzled
H
Has-been
Hoary
I
Impaired
Inactive
Infirm
L
Long in tooth
Lots of mileage
M
Mature
Methuselah
N
No spring chicken
Not creative
Not relevant
O
Obsolete
Old
Olden
Old bag
Old bat
Old coot
Old dear
Old duffer
Old-fangled
Old fart
Old-fashioned
Old fogie
Old geezer
Old goat
Old guard
Old hat
Out-moded
Outworn
Oldie
Old Man
Old school
Old-timer
Old Woman
On last leg
Out-dated
Out of date
Over the hill
Over-qualified
P
Passe
Past his/her prime
Prehistoric
Primeval
Primordial
Prune
R
Relic
Retired
Resistant to change
Rusty
S
Seasoned
Senile
Senior
Shot
Slow
T
Time-worn
Tired
U
Useless
V
Venerable
W
Worse for wear

Mary Greenwood, Mediator, Attorney and Author of How To Negotiate LIke A Pro: 41 Rules for Resolving Disputes, How to Interview Like a Pro, and How to Mediate Like a Pro, Winner of over 30 book awards. Email: mgreen464@aol.com; website: www.marygreenwood.org