Have you ever been prevented from applying for a job or a selection process for a post by open competition, as the advertisement (or the announcement) had set age limits ? ATDAL Over 40 (no. 257 of the Equal Opportunities Official Register held by UNAR, the Italian Anti-Discrimination Government Agency) launches a new service aimed at promoting equal opportunities for jobless seniors.
On the webpage www.atdal.eu/2015/06/12/1736 anyone who feels to have been unfairly excluded from a selection process may find simple instructions (in Italian) to report the job advertisement allegedly illegal. All it takes is filling a form in and e-mailing it to ATDAL Over 40.
Cases of discrimination based on factors other than age (e.g. gender, race et al.) may also be reported to ATDAL Over 40.
For more information, you may write to: pariopportunita@atdal.eu
/ fax + 39 178 225 5928 or visit www.atdal.eu
Who is ATDAL Over 40?
ATDAL Over 40 – short for "Associazione nazionale per la tutela dei diritti dei lavoratori over 40" - National Association for the protection of the rights of workers aged 40 + - is a non-profit entity established in Milan in 2002 by a group of unemployed citizens, mostly high-level managers and officers. These citizens had been forced to leave their jobs as a consequence of dismissals or individual resignations and were not yet entitled to receive a pension from the State welfare system although in some cases certain workers were very close to qualifying for those pensions.
Since the beginning ATDAL Over 40 has been working at various levels to find solutions for "mature" unemployed people. In this context, the organisation has been engaging political parties, public authorities and mass media by carrying out projects and actions aimed at helping unemployed people over 40 to re-enter the job market and to protect their rights by expanding the current welfare protection system. ATDAL Over 40 also develops educational and information campaigns to raise awareness and encourage behavioural change among employers, older learners and workers as well as the general public.
ATDAL Over 40 is focused on people who lost their jobs at individual level (fired workers, people who were paid to resign or forced to resign through bossing /mobbing acts) and who were left, in most cases, without any kind of support.
The association aims to:
- represent senior workers (aged 40 to 65) faced with hurdles that prevent them from to re-entering the job market, and to address the consequences that such situations can bring about (family crises, social downsides, depression-related illnesses, etc.);
- lobby for legislative solutions in the field of job regulation, aimed at protecting senior workers forced out of the job market while still far from retirement age;
- lobby for legislative solutions aimed at: making it easier for the aforementioned workers to reach the right to retire, a use of State and local welfare instruments in their favour, and overcoming obstacles that arise from outdated laws which "out-of-touch" with the real situation of the Italian economy and society;
- demonstrate and enhance the professional skills and expertise of senior workers;
- support and ease in any possible way the re-hiring of unemployed senior people;
- promote "networking" among Association members, so that new independent enterprises may be set up.
