Am I a Victim of Age Discrimination?

How do you know if you are a victim of age or a victim of society? I have a lengthy job history and many qualifications. The reasons for the many different positions were simple at the time. My husband was the bread winner and to have what we felt was a quality family lifestyle, I worked the hours that suited the family needs. They always came first. While this gave me a great deal of experience, it also limited the solid looks of the resume.

Now in my fifties, my husband passed away, the daughter is grown and moved out, and I am left to find a full time position somewhere. I have experience but no college degree. I have done management, clerical, secretarial, retail, loss prevention and let's not forget factory work. Attained my COL for bus driving which I did for 6 years, This was a great job for that time period because that's when my husband got sick and it allowed me the time to schedule his doctor's appointments and get him there. When he passed away is when it hit me. Now what?

I have locally applied to one company in particular 12 times. Not so much as an interview. Is this discrimination? I am qualified for the positions that I apply for, but still no call. I can see where an employer has to be cautious of the "older" employee for health reasons but to that I attest that we have much more to offer than they are giving us credit for. I am fortunate that I can still out perform most younger people, but when reviewing your resume they just don't seem to see it like that. Again though, what can you do? It is almost impossible to prove that this is actually going on so we just keep plugging away.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) states that in 2007 there were 19,103 charges of age discrimination and of those 16,134 were resolved. That leaves 2,969 unresolved or unproven. Granted some of these may have been withdrawn before hand so it is not fair to state that they were ALL not resolved. But as a point of reference it gives you an idea how much of it goes on. There are groups out there to help but again it is very hard to prove. So unless you want to lawyer up, you are where I am and hope that one of the employers will give you the chance you deserve.

You can check this site, EEOC.gov, or AARP.org. They may have some input on the question as to whether or not this is discrimination. But with all of this I am still jpooaj (just plain out of a job)!