Introduction: There are a number of federal laws protecting employees in the workplace. Included in them are the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Equal Pay Act, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. According to Dana Shilling in her book "Human Resources and the Law," the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA) was passed to protect older workers who are still able to carry out vital job functions. Under the ADEA, employers with twenty or more employees are prohibited from discriminating against employees over forty years of age in hiring, compensation or other employment related areas including training, promotions or layoffs and terminations. The ADEA does not prohibit the discharge of employees over the age of forty for good cause or employee misconduct. The ADEA does prohibit employers for retaliating against older workers that file complaints under the ADEA alleging that they are being discriminated against because of their membership in a protected class. Under the ADEA, the basis for termination must be a reasonable factor other than age. In any scenario in which retaliation by an employer is alleged, the burden of proving it can be difficult according to Shilling.
             Each federal law that protects workers has a different set of facts and factors used to determine if there is a prima facia case for a lawsuit. In the case of the ADEA, Shilling writes that a prima facia case for an ADEA lawsuit would be one in which the following criteria are met:
             The plaintiff or complainant is part of the protected group meaning he or she is over forty
             The plaintiff was qualified for the position that he or she held or was applying for
             The plaintiff was discharged, not hired, demoted, not given a raise, or in some other way was discriminated against on the basis of age (Shilling, 1998)
             Introduction: According to Mike Deblieux in his book "L
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