Age discrimination



Abstract

This paper gives an overview of the issues faced by players of NBA in relation with discrimination. It discusses the Age Discrimination Act in Employment Act (ADEA) and its current and legal developments. The ADEA was established for protecting individuals of above forty in selection of employment based on their capabilities. The ADEA applies to employers, labor organizations, and employment agencies, and therefore, it is unlawful on their part to discriminate based on age. Since NCAA does not fall under the jurisdiction of state law, there has been no court ruling against its rules and regulations. It is considered as a private entity, which makes its own rules on selection of players and making of their contract. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is the body, which is liable for implementing the laws of ADEA.

Age discrimination

Introduction

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) was revised in 1967 in hope to address rightly the issue of discrimination of employees at the workplace. The main purpose of the Act was to safeguard the rights of older people who were capable and were discriminated due to age (Alexander, 2010). The sole purpose of the ADEA was to help employers and workers to come to a solution of the matters of age. According to ADEA, it is unlawful to hire or fire any person and discriminate because of age The National Basketball Association (NBA) is an association of professional basketball whose main task is to promote, organize, and regulate the proceedings in a professional basketball (Fuhrman, 2001). Players are bounded by law after signing the contract with National Basketball Players association.

Discussion

Issue

The main issues of the agreement signed by players of the NBA were the provisions of the Article X of the NBA CBA. The provisions include that the minimum playing age to be nineteen and required that before entering into the NBA season, the player should have graduated from high school. The potential players have a lot to lose due to this rule; however, this rule does provide some benefits to the NCAA. The Article X clearly states that in order to be eligible for playing a player should be at least 19 years of age (Jody, 2010). The players who have not played international game must at least be a part of one NBA season since the player's graduation from the high school.

Thus, any player who does not meet the requirements of the Article X and has not taken a year off from high school is ineligible for the NBA draft. Further, the draft order is based on player is picked then he could negotiate or sign the contract with the organization. Salary of players picked after the first round is higher, as compared to players picked after second round (Neumark & Stock, 1999).

The contracts of those made in the second round are also not guaranteed, so they earn less and are not guaranteed the term they are hired. This is the main backdrop of the rookie scale for the ...