SACRAMENTO — Gov. Pete Wilson sided with California business groups Friday and vetoed a controversial bill that would have protected workers over 40 from being replaced by younger, lower-paid staff.
Wilson said older workers are already protected by the state's anti-discrimination laws. He also said it is important for the state's economy to let businesses consider the cost of keeping an employee--even if that means selecting a younger worker over an older one.
"It is unacceptable practice for employers to use age as a criterion in the workplace unless otherwise required by law," Wilson wrote in a veto message issued at the close of business Friday. "On the other hand, in a competitive market-based economy like California's, employment decisions which consider salary appear not only reasonable, but essential."
The controversy over treatment of older workers erupted last year when a state appellate court ruled that employers can give younger workers preference over their older counterparts if the moves are justified by economic conditions--not age.
The ruling prompted legislation by Sen. Quentin Kopp (I-San Francisco) to establish a prohibition against companies that might try to improve profits or streamline their operations by removing or replacing older, higher-paid workers.
Kopp's bill would allow companies to consider salary differences in cases of economic necessity, such as a move to avoid financial loss or bankruptcy.
The state Chamber of Commerce, the California Manufacturers Assn. and other business organizations urged Wilson to veto the bill. They said it went beyond the issue of age discrimination and inappropriately limited an employer's ability to respond to economic conditions.
Without Wilson's veto, Kopp's bill "would have given lifetime tenure to workers over 40," Julie Broyles, lobbyist for the California Chamber of Commerce, said Friday. She said workers over 55 will make up 73% of the national work force by 2020.
"Are you going to give the group that makes up the majority of the work force additional protections?" she said. "It's not smart to do that" and unfair, she said, "to the younger workers coming behind them."
Democratic supporters of the bill countered that it is inhumane to allow corporations to try to improve their profit margins by dismissing older, qualified workers only because of higher salary levels.
