And it will establish a “second-look process,” an independent review of age discrimination investigations.

“That’s one of the major victories in the case,” said Dara Smith, an AARP Foundation attorney. The two plaintiffs “would not accept the settlement until we reassured them that the university would have to change its policies.”

The settlement could prove important for the more than 5 million Americans who work for state governments and entities. “State and local government employers are still learning that there’s an age law and that it’s applied to them since 1974,” said Cathy Ventrell-Monsees, senior attorney adviser at the E.E.O.C.

But since a Supreme Court decision in 2000, plaintiffs who bring age discrimination suits against state employers cannot collect damages, making attorneys reluctant to take such cases. (Plaintiffs can seek damages from private employers or the federal government, however, and in some cases from local governments.)

“It takes a long time to try these cases, and then there’s no payoff even if you win,” Ms. Smith said. The E.E.O.C. can sue for damages on behalf of complainants, though Ms. Smith said she thought it unlikely in this case.

The Ohio State settlement, however, demonstrates that “it can be worthwhile to bring these claims” against states, she said. “It’s a public reminder that they need to take age discrimination as seriously as they take other forms of discrimination.”

Although the federal age discrimination law took effect 50 years ago, a milestone the E.E.O.C. has marked with a new report, “age usually gets left out when companies think about diversity,” Ms. Ventrell-Monsees said. “If the same supervisors made those comments about race or sex, they’d know trouble was coming.”