In “The great retirement,” Part 2 of your excellent series on Maine’s labor crisis, one sentence is a giant red flag: “Employers may have to think twice before selecting applicants based on age.”

They can’t just think about it. Except in very few instances, it is illegal for employers to consider age in hiring. The federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act says so. Replace the word “age” with “race” or “gender” or “sexual orientation” and you see how wrong it is.

Ageism is often misunderstood and overlooked in employment.

Nancy Heiser
Brunswick