No the OP but in America a protected class is someone who qualifies for special protection/considerations by law. Basically it is there to help prevent someone's condition from being used against them. According to wiki the US has 10 of them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_group

edit: wiki lists 10 not 9

Small clarification, but in the US, the “protected class” is a characteristic not subset of the population.

So, “sex” is a protected class, and the protection applies to everyone. There have been cases protecting males from discrimination on the basis of sex (for example - where a state had a higher minimum drinking age for men than women).

Age is an exception. There are no protections for the young, only the old. There’s a certain age where (don’t know what it is) where you can’t be discriminated against, but below that you don’t have protections.

I believe SCOTUS hasn’t ruled that age is a “suspect classification” under the 14th amendment.

The federal ADEA (the Age Discrimination in Employment Act) only creates a right of action for people over 40.

It’s a weird one for sure. I wonder, if age were a suspect classification like sex, if the ADEA itself would be unconstitutional.

I mean wether SCOTUS found a right in the 14th amendment is neither here nor there. These sorts of things tend to come from laws passed by legislators.

Just to be clear, every US citizen fits into a protective class of some sort. It really prevents discrimination on the basis of your membership to a particular protective class. Like anything base on law/policy/etc. there are complexities, caveats, and exceptions.