Age discrimination charges filed against employers, while certainly not new, continue to plague firms and are expected to increase, as financially strapped baby boomers linger in the workplace.

It is probably going to be a growth area for litigation, said Robin E. Shea, a partner with law firm Constangy, Brooks & Smith L.L.P. in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Baby boomers “don't have enough for retirement, and so they're having to work much longer than maybe the prior generation had to and, meanwhile, you've got younger people trying to come up in the workforce and move up into the organizations, and the older baby boomers don't want to leave, because they can't afford to,” she said.

This is “expected to create conflict over the next few years and, of course, severance packages aren't nearly as sweet now as they were 10 years ago,” Ms. Shea said. Furthermore, “we would suspect baby boomers to be probably more litigious” than previous generations.

A report issued by The Conference Board Inc. on Feb. 1 said the percentage of workers between ages 45 and 60 who planned to delay retirement increased to 62% in 2012 from 42% in 2010.

David Gevertz, a partner with law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz P.C. in Atlanta, said, “We've seen an increase in age discrimination complaints in the context of reductions in force. It's gotten to the point where there have been so many successive waves of reductions at the same companies” that they no longer strictly comply with the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act. Consequently, some employers “are not completing the demographic information that must be attached to a release of an age claim” under the act.

Age discrimination is “certainly an ongoing concern for employers, and one of the types of claims that we continue to see regularly” and most frequently as reductions in force continue, said Gregg Lemley, a shareholder with law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart P.C. in St. Louis.

Denise I. Murphy, an attorney with law firm partner with Rubin & Rudman L.L.P. in Boston, who predicted the number of age discrimination claims will accelerate, said: “What most people don't understand is everyone over 40 is protected by the Age Discrimination Act and the Older Workers Benefit Protection Act.

“It's very simple for someone who's been terminated for whatever reason to establish a prima facie case of age discrimination. All they have to do is prove they were employed, they were age 40 and over,” they were the target of an adverse employment action, and were replaced with someone who was either not in a protected class or whose “difference in age was large enough to give an inference of age discrimination.”