Though receiving less media attention than its gender and race-related counterparts, age discrimination continues to plague the American workplace. Almost 20,000 charges of age discrimination were brought before the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in 2007, resulting in $66.8 million in punitive payments, not including any potential money made for those that chose to pursue further litigation.

The vast majority of age discrimination cases were of the traditional "out with the old, in with the new" variety of age discrimination-treatment administered or policies in place by a given employer that put its older employees at a disadvantage. But among the 1.9 million federal workers (excluding postal workers and part timers), reverse age discrimination-discrimination of the young by the old-is a highly underreported phenomenon.

Take Brett for example, a 30-year-old civilian employee at the Department of Defense, who claims that he deals with age discrimination on a daily basis.

"The culture of DoD seems to favor age discrimination, said Brett.  If you don't have grey hair or haven't been there long enough to remember working under the Reagan Administration, few take you seriously.  I've done trainings where older employees took one look at me and decided there was no way I could know anything they didn't.  So they just closed their eyes and went to sleep.  Other times, I've received obnoxious comments about whether or not I was old enough to drive and some referred to me as that kid.  I've had to work three times as hard just to get the same level of respect as the middle-agers."

Jennifer, a 25-year-old senior staffer in Congress told OhMyGov! a similar story.  

"I haven't really been the direct victim of age discrimination - at least not from federal employees - but I've definitely seen and heard it happen.  Sometimes people give me pet names that suggest I'm young, but as a woman I like the fact they don't see wrinkles and grey hair when they look at me.  As a man, yeah, it might bother me.  But I've definitely heard of others facing ageism.  A colleague of mine who is 40 but looks 30 told me he was often asked to step out of meetings because he wasn't ‘senior staff' when in fact he was; he just didn't look like it," said Jennifer.    

Age discrimination or ageism may rear its ugly head because in government, on average, federal employees are 47 years old and have worked for Uncle Sam for 17 years. Moreover, 60 percent of all feds are between the age of 40 and 59 years old and just six percent are under 29.  

The low percentage of young faces in government makes young feds one of the greatest minorities, falling under both black (17%) and Hispanic (7%) representation.  It also makes young feds an easy target for subtle forms of discrimination, but unlike other minority groups, young feds have no legal protections against discrimination.

Unfortunately for people like Brett and Jennifer, the federal government does not protect against age discrimination of the young.  The 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) protects workers 40 and older from age discrimination, but does not permit reverse discrimination claims. According to the ADEA, "Favoring an older individual over a younger individual because of age is not unlawful discrimination under the ADEA even if the younger individual is at least 40 years old." Although the option may exist to register charges with your local or state Equal Employment Office bureau, the bottom line is that federal government offers no way for young workers to fight against Grandpa Sam.

But not all young people feel so disadvantaged by their federal employer. Ben, 24, a Contract Specialist with the Department of Homeland Security felt that his age was an asset rather than an impediment.

"My federal managers recognize that there will be a dearth of professionals in the coming years...Our managers often take steps out of their way to ensure that we receive a unique assignment, in hopes of us growing and learning faster, said Ben."

Besides a stimulating and rewarding professional experience, Ben also enjoys financial benefits. "I am probably making more in the Federal Government than I would be in the private sector...my salary exceeds most of my friends' who have started and held private sector jobs since graduation."

Michael Black, a 30-year-old Analyst at the Federal Emergency Management Agency shared a similar, positive story of his two years in government.

"As a relative newcomer to government, I have not encountered age discrimination on the job, said Michael.  I've found that people tend to respect people in higher grade levels than in lower grade levels, but I have not seen a direct correlation between age and GS grade level. Within my agency, there are a number of younger, more deserved employees that have higher GS scales than people who have been around the agency for a while.  I personally have a higher GS scale than people who are much older than me, but I also feel that I work harder, do a better job, and am more qualified to fill the position."

Given the positive experiences of Michael and Ben, it's clear that age discrimination is not ubiquitous throughout government.  Some environments seem to embrace youth, while others view it as an impediment.  In a military environment like DoD, where one's rank is held to the utmost importance and strongly correlated with age, it's not surprising younger employees might be viewed more as cadets than equal contributors, even if they are civilian workers.  

But what about Congress?  Why would older employees on the Hill feel superior to younger employees?  

Perhaps their pride is tied to their ability to survive in a highly changed and incredibly transient political environment.  Politicians come and go with elections every two years.  Those that are able to remain employed on the Hill might feel that they know something the newer employees don't and feel empowered flaunting that knowledge and the fact they are survivors.  

In the rest of government, where employee wages fall under the auspices of the General Schedule (GS) of wages, the system itself may be a cause for ageism.  

"Perhaps also that this is not a question of discrimination, said Michael, but rather a systemic issue that is institutionalized in the GS policies and subsequent hiring practices.  The attitudes that are perpetuated and viewed as discrimination may just be manifestations from years of operating in a system which says that you must have X # of years or experience in this grade or step in order to advance."
 
If it is the system that's causing some young feds to face ageism and become disgruntled, switching to pay for performance systems like the National Security Personnel System being implemented at DoD should, in theory, help.  These pay systems reward performance instead of longevity with promotions and bonuses.  Similarly, as more advanced development positions - which allow managers to promote young feds rapidly through the GS scales - are embraced to stem the tide of retiring workers, younger employees in higher-ranking positions should become more common. As that happens, older employees will likely become more inclined to judge their younger colleagues by the content of their character instead of the tautness of their skin.