Spectrum staff and wire
Legislation to give older workers broader protections against age discrimination by their employers has been sent to the governor.
The bill, AB 1599 by Assemblywoman Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, would overturn a state Supreme Court decision that said employers may grant younger workers better benefits than their older counterparts.
In a 21-12 vote, the Senate on Aug. 14 sent the bill to Gov. Gray Davis, who has not taken a position on the measure. It passed the Assembly in January.
In June, a unanimous Supreme Court ruled against Dan Esberg, a Union Oil Company of California telecommunications specialist who sued after his supervisor allegedly told him the company wouldn't pay for him to get a master's degree in business administration because he was "too old to invest in."
Workers who were younger than Esberg, then 56, received the company's assistance.
The denial of financial help came 14 years after Esberg went to work for Union Oil and three years after the company had paid $16,000 in tuition for his bachelor's degree.
The court said current state law protects workers over 40 against discrimination in hiring and firing and when it comes to demoting or suspending employees.
But the law "does not prohibit employment discrimination in the furnishing of employee benefits on the basis of age," wrote Justice Joyce Kennard.
Although the court ruled against Esberg's age-discrimination claim, it did not overturn a $51,000 award for economic damages which a jury said Esberg suffered.
Sen. Ray Haynes, R-Riverside, complained that McLeod's bill would discourage employers from offering benefits to workers, because the employers could not "set the terms and conditions of those benefits."
"One of the great misconceptions that this body has is employers like to unfairly punish employees," Haynes said. "They only fire or discriminate against bad employees. That is the way it is. This bill says bad employees, you get benefits regardless of your age."
Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, said the argument that older employees aren't worth investing in is a false one, that younger workers can move on to other jobs after getting education benefits at their employer's expense.
"I think the [opponents'] argument is you don't want to waste your education money on anybody over the age of 40," she said. "Assembly member McLeod, who is admittedly over 40, as I am, would beg to differ."
The legislation could not be applied retroactively to affect Esberg's case.
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