8 Larson on Employment Discrimination § 139.01

Summary

Like Title VII, ADEA procedures were conceived with the idea that alleged discrimination should first be handled through informal means of persuasion, conciliation, and settlement. Thus, the ADEA mirrors Title VII in requiring aggrieved persons to file claims with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before proceeding to court.1 The EEOC is charged with the task of facilitating informal resolution of the claims and given sixty days to do so,2 and state administrative agencies are also given 60 days to take a crack at the claims.3 Through these means Congress hoped to pare the number of cases requiring costly, lengthy litigation.

However, Congress also recognized that persons alleging ADEA violations more often would be among the ranks of older Americans, those for whom time spent in administrative processing could be extra burdensome. To alleviate this, Congress eased ...