Statement on Signing the Age Discrimination in Employment Amendments of 1986

I have signed H.R. 4154, the Age Discrimination in Employment Amendments of 1986. This legislation ends mandatory retirement solely on the basis of age for most American workers and eliminates the upper age limit of 70 on all of the other protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act.

Discrimination against older workers is a matter of great concern to this nation because of the need to sustain and enhance our productive capacity and attain the goal of fairness in employment opportunity for all American workers. In enacting the Age Discrimination in Employment Act in 1967, the Congress took the first giant step toward achieving this goal. With the signing of this legislation, we take another important step by ensuring that the many individuals 70 years of age and older, who have valuable contributions to make, will now have the opportunity to do so.