New-hire air traffic controllers must be under age of 31 (opens in new tab)

I love how the government is adding new requirements to positions they’re struggling to hire for. Is this to create artificial scarcity and force privatization?

What if you're a few days shy of 31, and they decide to hire you, but you just cross 31 at the time you sign the contract, would that be deemed as an illegal hire? Or what if you were a few minutes away from turning 31 when you signed the contract, but then turned 31 when you submitted it? Or what if you were a few hours or days away from 31 when you signed the contract, but then you turned 31 before your details were formalised in the HR system?

Where does one draw the line exactly? If it is at the exact time you sign the contract, what if you were still drawing your signature when you turn 31? Or what if you mostly finished drawing the signature but the tip of your pen is still on the tail end of the signature when you turned 31, does that count as you having signed the contract before you turned 31?

Also, how does this account for timezone changes and daylight savings? Say if you were born in a country which is a day ahead of your present country, so you were still 30 as per your current local timezone, but 31 as per your native timezone? Also, do they consider the local time at the place you're signing the contract, or the local time of the place where the organisation is based? If its the latter, would they consider the timezone of the headquarters, or the branch office where you would be working?

How about daylight savings and leap days? Is clock drift and time dilation taken into consideration?

Shouldn't this be considered ageism?