Congress passed legislation ending mandatory retirement of most employees in

• A. 1935
• B. 1963
• C. 1975
• D. 1986

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how age-discrimination laws changed retirement rules. Congress did not ban age discrimination outright until later, but in 1986 it amended the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to end mandatory retirement for most workers. That means, for the vast majority of employees, being forced to retire because of age became illegal, shifting the workplace toward treating workers as eligible to stay employed based on ability rather than age. Some narrow exceptions remain for certain high-level executives and specific exempt positions, but those are limited. So the year when this broad end to mandatory retirement occurred is 1986.