Title 29 — LaborRelease 119-73
§621 Congressional statement of findings and purpose
Title 29 › Chapter CHAPTER 14— - AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT › § 621
Summary
Promotes hiring and keeping older workers based on ability, bans unfair age cutoffs for jobs, and helps employers and workers deal with age-related employment problems. Congress found that even as productivity and wealth rise, older people often lose jobs or can’t get new ones. Employers often use age limits. Older workers face higher and longer unemployment, their numbers are large and growing, and age-based job bias hurts businesses and the flow of goods.
Full Legal Text
Title 29, §621
Labor — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)The Congress hereby finds and declares that—
(1)in the face of rising productivity and affluence, older workers find themselves disadvantaged in their efforts to retain employment, and especially to regain employment when displaced from jobs;
(2)the setting of arbitrary age limits regardless of potential for job performance has become a common practice, and certain otherwise desirable practices may work to the disadvantage of older persons;
(3)the incidence of unemployment, especially long-term unemployment with resultant deterioration of skill, morale, and employer acceptability is, relative to the younger ages, high among older workers; their numbers are great and growing; and their employment problems grave;
(4)the existence in industries affecting commerce, of arbitrary discrimination in employment because of age, burdens commerce and the free flow of goods in commerce.
(b)It is therefore the purpose of this chapter to promote employment of older persons based on their ability rather than age; to prohibit arbitrary age discrimination in employment; to help employers and workers find ways of meeting problems arising from the impact of age on employment.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Rules and Regulations
section 16, formerly § 15, of Pub. L. 90–202, renumbered by Pub. L. 93–259, § 28(b)(1), Apr. 8, 1974, 88 Stat. 74, provided that: “This Act [enacting this chapter] shall become effective one hundred and eighty days after enactment [Dec. 15, 1967], except (a) that the Secretary of Labor may extend the delay in
Effective Date
of any provision of this Act up to and additional ninety days thereafter if he finds that such time is necessary in permitting adjustments to the provisions hereof, and (b) that on or after the date of enactment [Dec. 15, 1967] the Secretary of Labor is authorized to issue such
Rules and Regulations
as may be necessary to carry out its provisions.”
Short Title
of 1996 Amendment Pub. L. 104–208, div. A, title I, § 101(a) [title I, § 119], Sept. 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009–23, provided in part that: “This section [amending section 623 of this title, enacting provisions set out as notes under section 623 of this title, and repealing provisions set out as a note under section 623 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Age Discrimination in Employment
Amendments
of 1996’.”
Short Title
of 1990 Amendment Pub. L. 101–433, § 1, Oct. 16, 1990, 104 Stat. 978, provided that: “This Act [amending section 623, 626, and 630 of this title and enacting provisions set out as notes under this section and section 623 and 626 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Older Workers Benefit Protection Act’.”
Short Title
of 1986 Amendment Pub. L. 99–592, § 1, Oct. 31, 1986, 100 Stat. 3342, provided that: “This Act [amending section 623, 630, and 631 of this title and enacting provisions set out as notes under sections 622 to 624 and 631 of this title] may be cited as the ‘Age Discrimination in Employment
Amendments
of 1986’.”
Short Title
of 1978 Amendment Pub. L. 95–256, § 1, Apr. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 189, provided that: “This Act [amending section 623, 624, 626, 631, 633a, and 634 of this title and section 8335 and 8339 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, repealing section 3322 of Title 5, and enacting provisions set out as notes under section 623, 626, 631, and 633a of this title] may be cited as the ‘Age Discrimination in Employment Act
Amendments
of 1978’.”
Short Title
Pub. L. 90–202, § 1, Dec. 15, 1967, 81 Stat. 602, provided: “That this Act [enacting this chapter] may be cited as the ‘Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967’.”
Severability
Pub. L. 101–433, title III, § 301, Oct. 16, 1990, 104 Stat. 984, provided that: “If any provision of this Act [see
Short Title
of 1990 Amendment note above], or an amendment made by this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstances is held to be invalid, the remainder of this Act and the
Amendments
made by this Act, and the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances, shall not be affected thereby.” Congressional Finding Pub. L. 101–433, title I, § 101, Oct. 16, 1990, 104 Stat. 978, provided that: “The Congress finds that, as a result of the decision of the Supreme Court in Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio v. Betts, 109 S.Ct. 256 (1989), legislative action is necessary to restore the original congressional intent in passing and amending the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), which was to prohibit discrimination against older workers in all employee benefits except when age-based reductions in employee benefit plans are justified by significant cost considerations.”
Executive Documents
Transfer of Functions
Functions vested by this section in Secretary of Labor or Civil Service Commission transferred to Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1978, § 2, 43 F.R. 19807, 92 Stat. 3781, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, effective Jan. 1, 1979, as provided by section 1–101 of Ex. Ord. No. 12106, Dec. 28, 1978, 44 F.R. 1053.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
29 U.S.C. § 621
Title 29 — Labor
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73