Age Discrimination Law Summaries
Kansas, Age Discrimination Law Summaries
The Kansas Age Discrimination in Employment Act is located in the Kansas Statutes Annotated at Chapter 44, Article 11. The full text of the law is available beginning at Employment Practices Guide ¶17-20,650.01 .
DEFINITIONS
“Employee” does not include any individual employed by the individual's parents, spouse or child (Sec. 44-1112).
“Person” means individual, partnership, association, organization, corporation, legal representative, trustee, trustee in bankruptcy or receiver (Sec. 44-1112).
“Employer” means any person in Kansas who employs four or more persons and any person acting directly or indirectly for such a person, and includes the state and all political subdivisions of the state (Sec. 44-1112).
“Age” means an age of 40 or more years (Sec. 44-1112, as amended by H. 2771, L. 2007, enacted April 21, 2008, effective after publication in the statute book).
COVERAGE
Kansas' age discrimination law covers employers in Kansas who employ four or more persons, including the state and all political subdivisions of the state (Sec. 44-1112).
Nothing in this act shall be construed to be inconsistent with the nondiscrimination provisions under another provisions of state or federal law (Sec. 44-1118, as amended by H. 2771, L. 2007, enacted April 21, 2008, effective after publication in the statute book).
Nothing in this act shall be construed to mean that an employer shall be forced to hire unqualified or incompetent personnel, or discharge qualified or competent personnel (Sec. 44-1118, as amended by H. 2771, L. 2007, enacted April 21, 2008, effective after publication in the statute book).
EXCEPTIONS
Bona fide occupational qualification.- It is not an unlawful employment practice to take any action on the basis of age that is otherwise prohibited under Kansas' age discrimination law, if age is a bona fide occupational qualification necessary to the normal operation of the particular business or if the differentiation is based on necessary factors other than age (Sec. 44-1113).
Compulsory retirement; bona fide executive/high policymaking position.- Kansas' age discrimination law does not prohibit compulsory retirement of any employee who has attained 65 years of age and who, for the two-year period immediately before retirement, is employed in a bona fide executive or a high policymaking position, if such employee is entitled to an immediate nonforfeitable annual retirement benefit from a pension, profit-sharing, savings or deferred compensation plan, or any combination of such plans, of the employer of such employee, that equals, in the aggregate, at least $44,000 (Sec. 44-1118).
Bona fide seniority system/employee benefit plan.- It is not an unlawful employment practice to observe the terms of a bona fide seniority system or any bona fide employee benefit plan, such as a retirement, pension or insurance plan, that is not a subterfuge to evade the purposes of the Kansas Act Against Discrimination (see ¶17-2500 ), except that no such employee benefit plan may excuse the failure to hire any individual and no such seniority system or employee benefit plan may require or permit the involuntary retirement of any individual (Sec. 44-1113).
Also, it is not an unlawful employment practice to observe the provisions of a retirement, pension or other benefit plan permitted by state or federal law or by ordinance or resolution (Sec. 44-1113).
WHAT THE EMPLOYER MUST DO
It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for an employer, because of the age of a person, to refuse to hire or employ the person, to bar or discharge the person from employment or to otherwise discriminate against the person in compensation or in terms, conditions or privileges of employment; or to limit, segregate, separate, classify or make any distinction in regard to employees because of age without a valid business motive (Sec. 44-1113).
Civil service.- Additionally, no discrimination may be exercised, threatened, or promised, by any person in the civil service against or in favor of any applicant, eligible, or employee in the civil service because of age (Ch. 19, Art. 43, Sec. 19-4319).
Application forms.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for any employer to use any form of application for employment that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to age, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination (Sec. 44-1113).
Advertisements.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for any employer to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to age, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination (Sec. 44-1113).
Retaliation.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for any employer to discharge, expel or otherwise discriminate against any person because the person has opposed any practices or acts forbidden under Kansas' age discrimination law or has filed a complaint, testified or assisted in any proceeding under the law (Sec. 44-1113).
Coercion.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for any person, whether an employer or an employee or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any of the acts forbidden under Kansas' age discrimination law, or attempt to do so (Sec. 44-1113).
Interference with Human Rights Commission.- No person may willfully resist, prevent, impede or interfere with the Human Rights Commission or any of its members or representatives in the performance of duty under Kansas' age discrimination law, nor may a person willfully violate any order of the commission (Sec. 44-1117).
Wage rate; reduction.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for an employer to reduce the wage rate of any employee in order to comply with the Kansas Age Discrimination in Employment Act (Sec. 44-1113).
Preemployment inquiries.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for any employer to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to age, or any intent to make any such limitation, specification or discrimination (Sec. 44-1113).
Apprenticeships.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for an employer that provides, coordinates or controls apprenticeship, on-the-job or other training or retraining program, to maintain a practice of discrimination, segregation or separation because of age, in admission, hiring, assignments, upgrading, transfers, promotion, layoff, dismissal, apprenticeship or other training or retraining program, or in any other terms, conditions or privileges of employment, apprenticeship or training; or to follow any policy or procedure that, in fact, results in such practices without a valid business motive (Sec. 44-1113).
Benefits/pensions.- It is an unlawful employment practice based on age for an employer to establish or maintain an employee pension benefit plan that requires or permits (Sec. 44-1113):
in the case of a benefit plan, the cessation of an employee's benefit accrual or the reduction of the rate of an employee's benefit accrual, because of age; or
in the case of a contribution plan, the cessation of allocations to an employee's account or the reduction of the rate at which amounts are allocated to an employee's account, because of age.
Kansas' age discrimination law, however, does not prohibit an employer from observing any provision of an employee pension benefit plan to the extent that such provision imposes, without regard to age, a limitation on the amount of benefits that the plan provides or a limitation on the number of years of service or years of participation that are taken into account for purposes of determining benefit accrual under the plan (Sec. 44-1113).
NOTICE
Every person subject to Kansas' age discrimination law must keep posted in a conspicuous place or places on the person's premises notices to be prepared or approved by the Kansas Human Rights Commission that set forth excerpts of the age discrimination law and such other relevant information that the commission considers necessary to explain the law (Sec. 44-1114).
ENFORCEMENT
Any person aggrieved by any alleged unlawful employment practice based on age may file a complaint in the manner provided for processing complaints of unlawful employment practices under the Kansas Act Against Discrimination (see ¶17-2500 ) (Sec. 44-1115, as amended by Ch. 247, L. 1995).
Complaints filed with the Human Rights Commission on or after July 1, 1996, may be dismissed by the commission on its own initiative, and must be dismissed by the commission upon the written request of the complainant, if the commission has not issued a finding of probable cause or no probable cause or taken other administrative action dismissing the complaint within 300 days of the filing of the complaint. Complaints filed with the commission before July 1, 1996, must be dismissed by the commission upon the written request of the complainant, if the commission has not issued a finding of probable cause or no probable cause or taken other administrative action dismissing the complaint within 300 days of the filing of the complaint. The commission must mail written notice to all parties of dismissal of a complaint within five days of dismissal. Dismissal of a complaint constitutes final action by the commission which will be deemed to exhaust all administrative remedies under Kansas' age discrimination law for the purpose of allowing subsequent filing of the matter in court by the complainant, without the requirement of filing of a petition for reconsideration (Sec. 44-1115, as amended by Ch. 247, L. 1995).
WHO TO CONTACT
Contact the Kansas Human Rights Commission at 851-S Landon State Ofc. Bldg., 900 SW Jackson Street, Topeka, KS 66612-1252. Telephone: (913) 296-3206. Fax: (913) 296-0589.
POSTING
Every person subject to Kansas' age discrimination law must keep posted in a conspicuous place or places on the person's premises notices to be prepared or approved by the Kansas Human Rights Commission that set forth excerpts of the age discrimination law and such other relevant information that the commission considers necessary to explain the law (Sec. 44-1114).
PENALTIES
Any person who willfully resists, prevents, impedes or interferes with the Human Rights Commission or any of its members or representatives in the performance of duty under Kansas' age discrimination law and any person who willfully violates any order of the commission commits a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than $500, or both (Sec. 44-1117).
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