<P> The ADEA protects US citizens working for US employers operating abroad except where it would violate the laws of that country . </P> <P> An age limit may be legally specified in the circumstance where age has been shown to be a "bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) reasonably necessary to the normal operation of the particular business" (see 29 U.S.C. § 623 (f) (1)). In practice, BFOQs for age are limited to the obvious (hiring a young actor to play a young character in a movie) or when public safety is at stake (for example, in the case of age limits for pilots and bus drivers). </P> <P> The ADEA does not stop an employer from favoring an older employee over a younger one, even when the younger one is over 40 years old . </P> <P> The United States Supreme Court, in Meacham v. Knolls Atomic Power Lab, 554 U.S. 84 (2008), held that the employer, not the employee, bears the burden of proving that a layoff or other action that hurts older workers more than others was based not on age but on some other "reasonable factor ." </P>

Under the age discrimination in employment act of 1967 permits private