dy156

As an attorney, the prospect of giving legal advice on a message board raises big red warning flags for me. I heard a heated dabate once on the propriety of those radio call in shows featuring attorney, and figure this is pretty much the same thing. It's not just about avoiding malpractice, but what if you're giving advice to the person on the other side of the case as you're on?
This is by NO means real live legal advice, or a substitute for it, much less given for any reason other than just to see myself type. Just so you'll know, there is NO ATTORNEY CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ME AND ANYONE ELSE READING THIS!!!
(THE SAME GOES FOR ANYONE READING COCOUNSELOR'S POSTS TOO)


That having been said...

Even without knowing more about your case, I can say that in most states, a former employer who gives a reference to a potential future employer is extended a qualified privilege for those communications to someone that has an equal interest in the employment of the former employee. Basically, ex-boss can tell interviewer that you did a bad job. You can't really do anything about it unless ex-boss knew what he was saying was wrong, or he said that you stole from the company when you did not, or other non-job-related information about you that was false. Still, out of an abundance of caution, most employers now just give out information about when you worked there and if you are eligible for rehire or not. Defamation, libel and slander are state law claims, and vary from state to state, though.

Generally, an age discrimination case is federal law (The ADEA). Sorry to be so negative, but you also have a steep uphill battle to climb on a failure to hire age discrimination claim, unless you know of a policy or practice of the company that did not hire you. Even then, these cases are rarely won. After a fairly complicated "burden shifting analysis" the employer can come up with almost any reason that they made the decision they did, and it is rare for the court to decide that their reason is just pretext for discriminating against you because you are older. Unless the difference in qualifications between you and whoever was hired instead of you are "so great as to reach up off the page and slap the court in the face" the federal courts are unlikely to second guess an employer's decision.

Perhaps more importantly, filing suit when you are job seeking is a bad idea, generally. Word is likely to spread that you are a litigious person, and like it or not, it's going to give any other potential employers another (hard to prove, yet still real) excuse not to hire you.

Wish I had better news for you. I'm usually not this negative. My dad, laid off in the tech industry, spent two years trying to find a job, then gave up and went back to school for something completely different.