Clinton sued for age discrimination!

Fri, 10/02/2009 - 12:57pm

Hillary Clinton, Oct. 1, 2009 | KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images 

A 64-year-old Foreign Service officer has sued Secretary Clinton for age discrimination. Last November, the woman was offered -- and accepted -- a two-year position at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, Algeria, which would have begun this past summer. Instead, the offer was rescinded when it was discovered that the woman would turn 65 during the middle of her term. The mandatory retirement age for Foreign Service officers is 65.

The woman has filed an age-discrimination lawsuit against Clinton, stating that the age limit is unconstitutional and based on old-fashioned stereotypes. What's particularly painful is that the woman didn't join the Foreign Service until age 54 because when she wanted to join earlier, there was a ban on married women!

Clinton, who's almost 62, will be turning 65 when she's still secretary of state, but the mandatory retirement age doesn't apply to political appointees. "Imagine if someone told Hillary Clinton she couldn't be secretary of state because she would turn 65 before her term is up," a lawyer representing the woman told the Washington Post.

If an adult is physically and mentally able to handle a position, age shouldn't matter. I would hope Clinton agrees. As more baby boomers enter their "senior years," my hunch is that these age barriers will come down.

Photo: KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images

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Re: What's particularly painful is that the woman didn't join the Foreign Service until age 54 because when she wanted to join earlier, there was a ban on married women!

Whatever the reasons this woman joined the service at the age of 54, this statement is misleading. There had been a ban on married female Foreign Service Officers but it was challenged by activist female officers when Kissinger was Secretary of State and was eliminated in 1971 when according to your story the woman in question would have been 26. As a married female I served in the Foreign Service since 1972 along with many other married female officers.

The question of whether or not a mandatory retirement age should continue to exist for the Foreign Service is a fair one but the gender of the officer -- or the Secretary of State -- is not relevant.