The Supreme Court struck an important blow for older workers this week by making it easier for them to sue for age discrimination. The ruling, which allows older workers to use the same kind of proof as victims of race or sex discrimination, corrects numerous bad rulings by lower courts. Now that the law has changed for the better, employers should be far more careful about how they treat older workers. discrimination, corrects numerous bad rulings by lower courts. Now that the law has changed for the better, employers should

The Supreme Court has now given older workers the protection Congress intended by allowing them to sue. This week's ruling still leaves employers a significant way out because it allows them to prevail if they can show that they acted based on "reasonable factors other than age." But wise in-house lawyers will be warning their companies in the promotions and layoffs.

Workers over the age of 40, who are nearly half of the work force, deserve to be treated fairly. But they are not the only ones who are likely to benefit. Older people are often the most competent and conscientious workers, but employers may be too ignorant or biased to realize it. As the United States is thrust into an ever more competitive global economy, it cannot afford to let prejudice preve it from having the best possible work force.

By Robert Veillette, 2005

Read the passage above and write an essay responding to the ideas it presents. In your essay, be sure to summarize the passage in your own words, stating the author's most important ideas. Develop your essay by identifying one idea in the passage that you feel is especially significant, and explain its significance. Support your claims with evidence or examples drawn from what you have read, learned in school, and/or personally experienced.