Dear globalcounselor,
I am a 62 year old Black man working in an office in a large insurance company. I am healthy. I have a family of four and very outgoing. We recently hired a new Manager for my department. He is a party guy. He invites all the younger staff to evening get together where important information is transmitted, I suspect. It can’t be all about partying and drinking and having fun. I am never invited. When I asked him why he does not invite me with them he said that it’s usually past my bed time and he did not want my wife to worry. I felt offended. I know it’s not because of my colour because he invites the younger Black workers so I’m guessing it must be because of my age. I feel hurt and I feel I am being left out of the swing of things because of my age and I’m not feeling old at all. I think I have about 13 or so more years of work and if this is the way I’m going to be treated, I don’t know how I’ll survive because I am feeling poorly.
Poorly
Dear poorly,
You are being discriminated in your workplace by your boss on the basis of your age. You need to sit your boss down and tell him how you are feeling excluded from work-related events because of your age and that you would like to be included. If it is past your bedtime you would have the opportunity to gracefully decline but you need the opportunity. Tell him also that it is a human rights violation just to give him heads up in case you need to take this into a formal complaint. Sometimes all it takes is sharing how you feel and people respond. It’s sad when we are left out of things and when we’re discriminated because of something we cannot help. Take action to stop all forms of discrimination.
