In harsh economic times, meeting the bottom line often means letting employees go despite years of loyalty. It's not intentional. It's business - and these days it's harder and harder for managers to make ends meet without handing out pink slips.

However, often times these layoffs are intentional. From a business standpoint, older workers tend to cost employers more money - in terms of salary and benefits. That's why older employees find themselves on the chopping block when employers start giving the ax to meet operating goals.

Older employees are not taking too kindly to the layoffs as these days replacement positions are harder to find. A story in the Wall Street Journal shows that according to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), age discrimination claims are at a record high, reaching about 95,000 in 2008. That is a 15 percent increase from 2007.

Fortunately for older workers, these age-based practices go against the Age Discrimination Employment Act of 1967, which protects individuals who are 40 years old and above from any kind of employment discrimination based on age.

There is also a 2005 Supreme Court decision that broadened the interpretation of age discrimination to include cases where there was no evidence of intentional discrimination. This set of laws protects employees who are 40 years old or older and often prevents companies from widespread age bias - but not enough.

A recent article in Business Management Daily shares the plight of George, a man in his 60s who worked as CFO of a shoe import company. When management tried to terminate George, he proactively volunteered to take a steep pay cut. Unfortunately, the company still terminated his employment. It was not until later he learned that his replacement was younger and given a higher salary than his counter offer.

This is an instance where George can turn to private litigation. For businesses, it's increasingly important to be careful with HR practices and watch for older employees offering to take pay cuts. This can be an alarm for an impending suit, and nowadays private litigators are watching.

Here's the typical process for someone filing an age discrimination claim. Let's say our friend Bob loses his job and files a claim against his employer. Once filed, the EEOC has 180 days to investigate. If the agency finds merit in the claim, officials usually try to reach a voluntary settlement with the employer. If no settlement is reached, the EEOC or Bob can file a separate suit - in comes private litigation.

In fiscal 2008, the EEOC filed 290 lawsuits, resolved 339 lawsuits and resolved 81,081 private sector charges.

This past Sunday the New York Times broadened the discussion in its Room for Debate column. What about those older Americans who don't have jobs or have been struggling to find something for years? Unfortunately, there aren't any laws that protect the older, wiser bunch from not being hired for a position.

According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, those 45 or older, who are already unemployed, were out of work for more than 22 weeks in 2008. In comparison, younger workers faced 16.2 weeks of unemployment.

What are your thoughts? What are you seeing in your workplace or amongst your friends that raises alarm?