Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Protect Older Job Applicants Act” or the “POJA Act”.
Protect Older Job Applicants Act
A BILL
To prohibit employers from asking the age or date of birth of an individual before the completion and submission of an application for employment by such individual.
Sec. 2 Prohibition against asking the age or date of birth before the completion and submission of the application for employment
Section 4(a) of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 623(a)) is amended—
in paragraph (2) by striking the “or” at the end,
in paragraph (3) by striking the period at the end and inserting “; or”, and
by adding at the end the following:
“(4) to ask the age or date of birth of an individual before the completion and submission of an application for employment by such individual.”
Sec. 3 Prohibition against limiting, segregating, or classifying applicants for employment
Section 4(a)(2) of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 623(a)(2)) is amended—
by inserting “or applicants for employment” after “employees”, and
by inserting “or as an applicant for employment” after “employee”.
Sec. 4 Damages for requesting the age or date of birth at the time of application
Section 7 of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (29 U.S.C. 626) is amended—
in subsection (b) by inserting “, except where a remedy is provided in subsection (g)” after “of this section”, and
by adding at the end the following:
“(g) The amount owing to an applicant for employment for a violation of paragraph (2) or (4) of section 4(a) shall be $5,000 in lieu of any other amounts owing under this Act for such violation.”
Sec. 5 Effective date
The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act.