Q.  My company wants to target on-line recruitment ads for certain jobs to specific age groups. Is that legal?

A.  In most circumstances, the answer is no. Unless an employee’s age is a bona fide occupational qualification (i.e., hiring an applicant under a certain age is reasonably related to an essential operation of the business), a policy targeting recruits under an age limit likely will be considered age discrimination.

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) states that, generally, it is unlawful for employment notices or advertisements to include age preferences, limitations, or specifications.  Thus, advertisements that state that the company is seeking applicants who are “age 25 to 35” or “recent college graduates,” for example, violate the ADEA. Employers also may not base hiring decisions on stereotypes about a person because of his or her age.  Likewise, an employer may not use an employment test that excludes older applicants unless the test is based on reasonable factors other than age.

But, what if, instead of soliciting a certain age group in the text of the advertisement, the company uses technology, such as micro-targeting, to limit the population receiving the job ad? In a recent class action case filed in Northern California, a group of plaintiffs claimed that such a practice also violated ADEA. The plaintiffs sued several large companies and a defendant class of “hundreds of major American employers and employment agencies,” claiming that the companies used Facebook’s ad platform to routinely exclude older workers from receiving their recruiting ads on Facebook, “thus denying older workers job opportunities.”  The lawsuit seeks to certify a class of older applicants who were excluded from receiving employment ads, and seeks injunctive and monetary relief for what it calls a pattern and practice of age discrimination.

The class action is in the early stages, and it will be interesting to see whether the court agrees with plaintiffs’ argument that using technology to limit the pool of applicants to certain age groups is discriminatory.  In the meantime, employers should take heed and avoid targeting younger recruits, both on the face of the job ads and by limiting the population receiving them, absent a bona fide occupational reason to do so.