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Volume 2 Number 2
CONGRESS PASSES AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT
Before adjourning Congress passed legislation making it illegal for most employers to require employees to retire at a set age. President Reagan signed it into law on October 31, 1986. The previous law had established a retirement age of 70 except for federal employees, as to whom there was no upper age limit. Employers with fewer than 20 employees are exempted. The new law also provides a seven year exemption for law enforcement officers, firefighters and university professors. During this period the Department of Labor and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are to assess the impact the law would have on colleges and universities, and to "evaluate and propose physical and mental fitness tests for police and firefighters" (Congressional Quarterly, October 25, 1986).
The legislation was opposed by the National Association of 'Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce who claimed that the legislation would cost jobs, delay promotions, and limit efforts to bring more minorities and women into the work force (Congressional Quarterly, Oct. 25, 1986).
It is estimated that some 20,000 workers who would have retired will remain on the job because of the bill.
  
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