A law that was approved last year is giving new hope to senior citizens who lined up in Monday’s nationwide Labor Day job fairs.

Benito Parman, 60, a former cook in Libya, said he wants to try his luck to be hired as an international cook or call center agent.

“I want to have my own income, at least enough to pay for the electric and water bills,” said Parman, who subsists on his earnings from his corner store.

Parman said he was encouraged after the signing of the Republic Act 10911 or the anti-age discrimination law.

“Yes we were encouraged because, in the past, there is usually this age limit for job vacancies,” said Parman.

Some private firms set 60 at the retirement age while 65 is the retirement age for government employees.

Under RA 10911, employers are barred from requiring applicants to reveal their age or date of birth to reject applicants on the basis of age, or to discriminate in terms of compensation or privileges of employment based on the individual’s age.

“We are reminding them that we now have this law that you cannot discriminate people unless they are exempted,” said NCR Labor Director Johnson Ca?ete.

“People, who are affected, can go to the table of DOLE and inform us,” said Ca?ete.

A total of 1,658 applicants were hired-on-the-spot in all the job fairs. But their ages were not immediately known. DMS