can they hire anyone they choose?

[is it me]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MN

I work for a public owned entity. Recently they posted an internal management
position for my department. The job description specifically listed duties that I
was the only one who had done these and had been doing them for several years. They hired my young male coworker. Do they have to hire the most qualified? This position is now my boss and he is telling me that I have to continue to perform these duties that are on HIS job description. Do I when
no one else does?

 

[cyjeff]

Unless you are a member of a union or have some other CBA in place, I don't see anything wrong with what happened.

 

[eerelations]

Employers are legally allowed to hire anyone they want, even people who are completely unqualified for the positions they're being hired into, as long as the hiring decisions aren't based on things like race, gender, religion, or disability, and so on.

Managers may legally require their employees to perform work that isn't in the employees' job descriptions, even when said work is in the manager's job descriptions. And managers may legally fire employees for refusing to do said work.

This may seem grossly unfair to you, however it is legal.

 

[cbg]

There is no law in any state requiring that they hire the most qualified person.

 

[commentator]

In a great many situations, particularly in the public sector, a great effort is being made to hire and retain bright new young people. This is because there has to be a contingent of people to replace the "old guard" as they retire and move out.

These young folks are recently educated, frequently much more tech and computer savvy than the last generation, and in better times wouldn't have even considered this type of work, which usually pays less than the high tech yuppie jobs they were expecting to get when they completed their education. But now they're here, and they're available, with student loans to pay, and they're the next wave.

While paying you more, honoring your experience, giving you the higher job title and salary would be the right thing to do, they're thinking in terms of training someone who will be around a long time, can move up in their organization beyond just this job.

If a pattern of discrimination could be established, in other words, if your whole operation is full of this sort of promotion and situation, there might be a chance to argue age discrimination. But as far as "it just isn't fair" there's really no reason they can't do this.