Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995                   TAG: 9503290066
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

POLICE, FIRE AGE LIMITS PASS HOUSE

The bill, approved by voice vote, would exempt state and local law enforcement agencies and fire departments from the 1967 Age Discrimination in Employment Act and allow them to use age-based criteria in hiring and retirement plans.

The measure was supported by the National Association of Police Organizations.

``It's a safety issue for our members, but realistically, it's also a safety issue for the American public we're out there trying to protect,'' said Robert Scully, executive director of the 180,000-member group.

David Certner, lobbyist for the American Association of Retired People, called the legislation ``blatant age discrimination'' and said police and fire personnel are ``basically being thrown out of their jobs at age 55.''

Rep. Harris Fawell, R-Ill., chief sponsor of the bill, said ``the public safety field is one of the rare exceptions where one's age is relevant to one's ability to perform'' such physically strenuous jobs.

The bill authorizes $5 million for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to develop individual performance testing that might ultimately replace age-based standards, Fawell said.

Since a temporary public-safety exemption expired in December 1993, the House had twice passed legislation to reinstate it and included the exemption in last year's crime bill. Senate conferees stripped that provision from the final crime bill.

The exemption passed Tuesday awaits a Senate vote.