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Abstract
Many people will spend most of their adult lives working, the benefits of being employed allows
for financial independence and stability. Inevitably, as a person gets older, they may consider the
possibility of retiring from their professional career. Retirement for many can be voluntary or
mandatory; voluntary retirement is the ability to choose when to retire. Mandatory or enforced
retirement, the decision as to when one retires is made by the employer rather than the employee.
However, the decision to retire often depends on how financially stable life after work will be.
For many, retirement can be a burden, as the choice of when to retire is taken from them due to
financial restrains and lack of post-retirement income. Many are forced to seek alternative means
of income because social security and pension plans are not enough to cover their daily expenses.
For the retirees, it can be very difficult to find another means of income; many are forced back
into the job market (at a significantly lower pay). It is an injustice to these workers to be forced
to reenter the job market, often outside their professional career. Although, age discrimination is
prohibited under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) enacted in 1967 and the
amendment of this law in 1986 prohibited mandatory retirement in most sectors. Both types of
retirement, voluntary or mandatory can be a burden for those who are not financially well-off, as
they face great hardship due to the lack of income and lack of programs available to aid retirees.
Keywords: employment, voluntary, age discrimination, retirement, injustice, mandatory
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Post-Retirement- Working The Ages Out
In the 1800s, many people worked well into the later stages of their lives, it was very rear
for many average income workers to leave their jobs and nearly non-accruing for the low income
workers. Many continued working until they became unable to work or find work, eventually as
they get older and cannot work anymore; they rely on family member for their well-being; for
many, retiring meant losing their income. One of the earliest accounts of retirement is the United
States dates back to the industrial era; in 1875 a railroad company (The American Express
Company) establishes the first retirement plan, which allowed their employees the ability to
retire. Many companies soon followed and retirement became a possibility for many. However,
as the cost of living is increasing over the years, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many to
retire. In the United States, for many workers in the later stages of their adult life (older-
workers), the decision to retire from their well-invested professional career often depends on
their financial sustainability post-retirement. For those whose obtained financial sustainability, it
will be easier to adjust to life after work, thus they may also choose to retire at an earlier age
(when they have earned enough to afford retirement). According to Robert (1982), “Generally,
the individual's attitude toward retirement is closely allied to his or her financial situation. The
higher the expected retirement income, the more favorable the attitude” (p. 122). Individuals
with a high expected income post retirement generally have a positive attitude when it comes to
retirement, they may choose to retire as early as they want, this ability to choose when to retie is
voluntary (wanted) retirement. These individuals often plan their lives after retirement to insure
they have the means (money) to sustain them. Many may invest in high yielding pension plans or
have other forms of gain income, post their retirement. However, for those whose have not
obtained financial stability and are not expected to receive income at can cover their daily
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expense, retirement may seem as a burden and they will have a negative attitude towards
retirement. An injustice occurs when someone who has not obtained financial sustainability is
forced to retire from their professional career due to the company’s policy regarding retiring and
age. For the many retirees, whose decision to retire was voluntary, the conditions around their
decision to retire can be perceived as mandatory or enforced retirement. Many of the elderly who
are forced retirement are perceived as incapable to work due to their age or appearance, being
placed into these descriptive categories is an injustice to the elderly. Elderly often face physical
health concerns associated with aging, however, due to mandatory retirement, the psychological
(mental) health of the retirees are negatively affected. Retirees often battle stress, depression,
anxiety and many more psychological concerns as a result of unwanted retirement.
For many professionals, retiring, makes adjusting to life after work difficult for someone
who is not financially well off as they may often seek another form of income to aid their
expenditures such as daily expense, medical obligation and mortgages obligation. For those
seeking employment at an older age, it could be quite difficult to find employment and for the
ones who do find employment, they’ll have to adjust to working at a lower salary. Because some
employer uses the ‘healthy hire’ approach, it could be quite difficult for the older community to
seek employment. Wagenaar, Kompier, Houtman, Bossche, and Taris (2015) suggested that well
invested, older and in good health workers are less likely to gain reemployment after retirement,
instead employers would rather the younger, under invested workers also in good health.
Employers would not pay more for the more invested and older employees. The bias companies
have towards the older and more invested constitutes an injustice, their research shows that,
“Due to a healthy hire effect, these latter workers, but also older workers, are unlikely to regain
employment” (p. 332). Since many of the elder community have bills to pay such a mortgages,
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medical, etc. they relied on a steady and stably income, for those who choose to retire, losing
their income can have negative impaction, often their post-retirement benefits and social security
cannot cover their expense.
Retirement is often views as a difficult transition for many. Certain circumstance can
restrict the decision making processes (pressure from peers, improper planning, etc.), one may
choose to hold off on retiring and continue their employment until there are financially able to
retire. According to Szinovacz and Davey (2005), “About one third of our sample of retirees
perceived their retirement as forced. This result casts doubt on previous models treating
retirement as a voluntary transition” (p. 46). Retirees that examined the conditions which that led
into their retirement conclude that their decision to retire was either forced or wanted, many
perceived their retirement perceived their retirement as forced (mandatory) instead of voluntary.
Forcing the elder community to retire and replacing their income with lower from of income
(benefits) that cannot cover their expenses is an injustice to the elderly community. Lacking of
post-retirement benefits to cover their expense, the retiree may seek alternative means of income;
however, due to their age it may be very difficult to find alternative means of income and an
injustice for them to do so. Robert (1982) states, “Hiring policies, particularly in manufacturing,
tend to discriminate against hiring older workers” (p. 123). There are many professionals
(skilled-workers) in very varies fields, manufacturing typically looks for employees at the peak
of their economical (most efficient and useful) years. The age of when someone retires may vary,
in most case they are in the later stages in their life, they may fall into the older worker group
(less economical) and in manufacturing, and companies tend to have some bias regarding the
older worker group. There are others with a positive view on retiring, they may choose to end
their professional career as soon as financial possible, for those who have not obtained financial
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stability, they may choose to remain employed in order to keep their income and maintain their
livelihood. Voluntary retirement allows them to do so, to continue working at ones will and retire
when they want too; however, mandatory or forced retirement does not allow one to choose
when they may retire.
Mandatory retirement can be considering a form of age discrimination, denying the older
people the opportunity to continue reaping the benefits of employment constitutes an injustice.
Assigning characteristic to a group based on their age is unfair to members of that group; for
employer that requires mandatory retirement for their employees, it is a form of discrimination
that is implanted in the employee’s labor contract. Some view mandatory retirement as favorable
(employers) and some view it as unfavorable (employee). The employers views on mandatory
retirement is favorable as it allows more job opportunity at lower cost due to high salary usually
paid to employees with longer tenure, it is a way of cutting down their cost in a sense. Many
employers use mandatory retirement to dismiss ‘aged’ and ‘over paid’ employees. Higgins
(1998) writes, Michael Marks’ (an Accountant) problem was not that he was an older worker.
His problem was that he had been a successful older worker. Through his years of experience,
Marks had garnered a higher salary than his younger cohorts at Loral Corp.’s office and that high
salary was grounds enough to get rid of him (p. 34). For someone who is well invested and loyal
to an employer, over the years they’ll earn a higher salary. Many employers value productive
employees with extensive knowledge of their operations. However, when an employer
terminates an employee because they have earned a substantial salary, their actions constitutes an
injustice, especially when the use mandatory or forced retirement as a way of terminating highly
paid professional employees. Many of the people in retirement losses their substantial salary as
they leave their employers, because of that they face a dramatic decrease in income. Employers
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that enforce mandatory retirement may favor it because it allows them to reduce their cost.
However, many of their employees may view mandatory retirement as discriminating against
their age, since reaching a certain age is ground for retirement or the polite way of parting ways
with an employer.
There are many people that are affected by mandatory retirement, they are often faced
with a troubling dilemma, and they do not have enough income to cover their daily expenditure.
For those who have well invested pension plans such as defined-benefit plans and defined-
contribution plans, along with social security and little expenditure, post retirement may be quite
pleasant and enjoyable. On the other hand, for the people who are not financially well off, they
relied on social security as their of post retirement income. According to Bruce (2013),”Social
Security is likely to be an important part of retirement income for many clients. A recent survey
found it was a major source of income for 70 percent of retirees and a minor source for 23
percent. Of current workers, 77 percent expect it to be a major or minor source of income in
retirement” (p .27). Social security is a major from of income of retiree (70% of retirees) and of
the current workers, 77 percent of them are certain that social security will be a source of income
for them. However, due to the higher cost of living, social security is not enough to cover
expense of the retirees. Szinovacz and Davey (2005) states, “Programs are needed to help
somewhat disabled and displaced older workers find employment opportunities after forced
retirement” (p. 46). There is a need for more programs that help older workers, who were forced
into retirement, find alternative employment opportunities. As retirees are often faced with much
expenditure, they may face great hardship without sufficient income to sustain.
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Conclusion
For many the transition into retirement can be quite difficult, due to the loss of their
salary and the mounting expenditures. An injustice occurs when someone who has not obtained
financial sustainability is forced to leave their professional career. Many of the people in the
older community may struggle to find alternative means of income to cover their expenditure,
post retirement for them may be considered a burden. Mandatory retirement can be considering a
form of age discrimination, denying the older people the opportunity to continue reaping the
benefits of employment constitutes an injustice. For retiree who perceived their retirement as
mandatory, they believe view that as discriminating against their age. Similarly, as many retirees
will seek alternative means of income (reentering the work force), they may face difficult as
many employers would not hire them. Retirees face much injustice; it is very difficult to gain
employment, as they are discriminated because the fall into a certain group (elderly), they
struggle to cover their expenditure due to the lack of income and the lack of post-retirement
services does not adequately allow them to enjoy the benefits for all their years with an
employer. Often many retirees faced psychological health concerned due to mandatory
retirement, as the stress of post-retirement and lack of income can led to poverty. Retirees
struggle to maintain their livelihood’s as they lose they salary’s, many retires have medical
obligations that consume a large position of their social security benefits, leaving very little
income to sustain them.
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References
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Higgins, M. (1998). Success Has Its Price: Courts OK firing older, higher-paid workers to save
Money. ABA Journal, 84(2), 34-35.
Szinovacz, M. E., & Davey, A. (2005). Predictors of perceptions of involuntary retirement. The
Gerontologist, 45(1), 36-47. Retrieved from
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Wagenaar, A., Kompier, F., Houtman, M., Bossche, A., & Taris, J. (2015). Who gets fired, who
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