Age discrimination?

[tecolote]

I work at a publically funded research institution. In my department, there are 7 team leads in my grade classification. I am the oldest, in my early 50's. Most are at least 5 years younger, with some 10 or more. I have nearly 30 years of experience in the field in which I work. While some of my peers have experience levels similar to mine in years out of college, there are at least three that have moved into our field in the past 15 years or less.

I am the lowest paid in this pool, making about 10% less than my peers. I was hired in at this level, and there is little chance of near-term adjustment to even the average salary of the peer group. My performance reviews have been uniformly excellent, and there is no reason to suspect that will not continue.

My question is: is this discriminatory? Is it actionable?

Thanks for any information you can give me.

 

[cbg]

It's only discriminatory if you are being paid less BECAUSE OF your age. If it's because the market was different when you were hired; because the others are better negotiators than you; because the hiring mechanism has changed since you came in, or for any other reason unrelated to your age or other protected characteristic, it is not.