Can companies have a mandatory retirement age?

The United States is in the process of deciding in 2024 who will be sworn in as president next year. At present it appears that the race will be between President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, neither of whom is a whippersnapper.

This has become one of the issues, outside of either candidate’s policy stances, that has been much discussed. While the Constitution sets a minimum age limit for how old a person must be to hold the highest office in the land, there is no age ceiling.

However, that isn’t the case for all occupations. Generally speaking though, involuntary, or mandatory retirement at a given age is unlawful in the US under the anti-discrimination law the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA).

Can companies have a mandatory retirement age?

The ADEA, which is a federal law, applies to all companies with 20 or more employees but states have the right to prohibit other employers from forcing older workers to retire before they are ready. The federal law, however, does lay out some exceptions for private companies which allow them to set a mandatory retirement age for individuals 65 and older.

These include senior executives, high-level policymakers and board members, and in smaller firms partners. However, these individuals must have non-forfeitable retirement benefits valued at a minimum of $44,000 per year that they will receive. Again states may set a lower threshold.

What occupations have a mandatory retirement age?

Just like the private sector, the government cannot force workers to retire strictly due to their age according to the law. That said, a handful of federal and state positions are exempted, as well as some public safety occupations, and those employees are required to retire at a certain age.

Generally, this applies to roles that are physically demanding like firefighting and law enforcement, the FBI and customs and border protection officers, as well as nuclear materials couriers and air traffic controllers. However, even those age limits can be waived if the services of an individual is deemed necessary by the head of the agency in question.

Some federal positions, like those in law enforcement and air traffic control, also have a maximum entry age.

Commercial airline pilots are also required to retire at age 65, which was raised from 60 in 2006. There is a push to raise it once again, this time to 67. On the contrary, surgeons are not required to stop physically operating on patients at any given age.

While there is no federal limitation, several states set a mandatory retirement age for judges, typically at age 70.

These exceptions that allow for arbitrary limits on when a person is no longer able to perform their job are seen as unfair and the AARP says that “the practice erodes respect for laws against age bias.” Furthermore, the organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older states that “numerous scientific and medical studies find no need for this age-based discrimination.” Instead of relying on arbitrary age restrictions “public safety would be better served by periodically testing the fitness of public-safety employees, regardless of age.”