I am in my 50s with more than 20 years of experience with the same company. I was laid off over a year ago with approximately 20 other employees. On two occasions before I left, my boss commented that I must be ready to retire (I was not). I often felt that it was my age and salary that caused me to be laid off, since I found myself more competent and reliable than some of my co-workers who were not let go. With the recent Supreme Court ruling on age discrimination, do you feel that any of my rights were violated? Also, is there a time frame within which one must act?

Let me answer your second question first: To file an age discrimination claim under either state or federal law, you must file the claim with either the Massachusetts Commission against Discrimination or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission within 300 days of the action that you consider discriminatory. As you indicate that you were laid off over a year ago, the statute of limitations does apply, and you are prohibited from filing a claim.

Now to tackle your first question: The Supreme Court ruling insures that disparate impact analysis is available under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, in the same way that Title VII protects individuals from discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. According to Marc Greenbaum, a law professor at Suffolk University, "disparate impact arises when a practice that is applicable to all disqualifies members of a protected class more frequently than it does those who are not within that class." Your termination might have been viewed as discriminatory if a disproportionately large number of the employees who were laid off were older workers.

Even then the employer could claim that, according to Greenbaum, "a reasonable factor other than age" - such as performance, productivity, or attendance - was the reason that you and the others were laid off.

Although the new Supreme Court ruling was hailed initially as a victory for workers age 40 and over, not much is likely to change. Charges of age discrimination remain extremely difficult to prove.

There is no doubt that age discrimination exists in the workplace, and that you will encounter it from some prospective employers. While you can't easily prove age discrimination, you need to be aware of it and find ways to circumvent potential pitfalls.

The way for you to make an end run around the possibility of age discrimination is to focus your resume on only your last 10-15 years of employment; look and sound as youthful, healthy and vigorous as possible, on the phone and in person; emphasize your ability to get along well with a wide variety of people, including individuals in different generations; and concentrate on the ways in which your experience, perspective, and wisdom are assets rather than liabilities.

I have been out of the job market for close to 12 years raising my two children. I am actively seeking part-time employment to ease back into the workforce. I am a college graduate and I've worked in management and customer service for three companies. However, I have no way of contacting my former employers for professional references. How do I relay this situation to a prospective employer? Since my time away from work, I have been involved in volunteer positions such as coaching, and the local parent-teacher association. Most of these involve relationships with people who are friends, not professional associates. I know I can provide a list of personal references if need be.

Although it has been 12 years since your last full-time paid employment, you might be able to do additional detective work to locate former co-workers who could serve as references for you. The Internet makes tracking down people who have moved, even out of state, a less onerous job. Be persistent and dogged in your search. If you could find at least one person who would be willing and able to provide a reference for you from your years of working, it would greatly strengthen your employment application.

If you are still unable to locate a reference from any of your past employment situations, then perhaps you could use a written performance appraisal or review as verification of employment and evidence of the quality of your work.

You could then supplement your references with one or two from people who know you from your more recent volunteer work. Find someone who can speak to the abilities that you demonstrated while coordinating a PTA event: your work ethic, your work style, how well you work with others, your results, and your organizational abilities. Including recommendations from volunteer jobs and community involvement is an important strategy in building a credible and complete set of references.

The life lesson in your dilemma is, of course, to secure a reference at the time of any transition, be it the end of a job, the departure of a supervisor, or graduation from a school or training program. You never know when you will need that reference. The advantage of a reference secured at the time of departure rather than years later is that the other person is able to provide a much more detailed and comprehensive picture of you as a worker. The person could write a recommendation that you keep in your file, and that he or she could use as "talking points," when contacted by telephone, by prospective employers, even at a much later date.

Another alternative for you if you find that the lack of professional references is hindering your search is to consider doing some contract or temporary work, especially if it's a temporary-to-permanent assignment. That way, you can obtain a professional reference from the employment agency. Or, alternately," if the position is "temp-to-perm" and a good fit for you, you as a worker serve as your own best reference. You may be offered the job on a permanent basis, without the employer needing to check additional references.

One day a recruiter called me with a contract assignment. He asked that I not tell anybody he called and said I should refrain from disclosing the organization, as they do not want to be flooded with inquiries. The next day a second recruiter called with a permanent opportunity within the same organization and stated the very same thing about disclosure. The first recruiter wanted to meet one morning, just hours before the second recruiter had me meeting with the client. Should I tell them about each other and risk never working with either of them again?

As you are working with at least two recruiters from two different agencies, it is obvious that you did not sign an exclusive contract with any one agency. You are therefore under no legal obligation to disclose any information about your job search to either recruiter. Think of your information obligation to the recruiter as on a "need-to-know" basis. You would be expected to provide feedback on the interview process of any interview that the recruiter sets up for you. You are under no obligation to share information about other interviews that you set up on your own, or that you obtain through another recruiting agency. The fact that two recruiters called you about two different job opportunities at the same organization is an interesting coincidence.

You could keep both appointments and keep each recruiter in the dark about the other recruiter's assignment. You might want to avoid the possibility that the permanent position and the temporary position are in the same department or that you would be interviewing with some of the same individuals for both positions. To preserve your own sanity, I suggest that you make a decision about which opportunity you most wish to pursue. That way, you would be approaching this particular company through one recruiter, or at least one recruiter at a time.

For most people, the possibility of permanent employment clearly would trump a temporary assignment. If that is the case for you, then cancel your meeting with the first recruiter and take the interview the second has scheduled for you with the client. After your interview, you may find that you like the organization but that the permanent position is not a good fit for your skills and interests. If so, then perhaps, you could talk with the first recruiter about the temporary job opportunity at the company, if it is still open.

Got a question for the Job Doc? Tell us what hurts and we'll try and find the remedy for your career woes, every Sunday in the BostonWorks section of the Sunday Globe. E-mail your questions to or mail to Job Doc, The Boston Globe, PO Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.