Belinda was hired as an editor for Dusty Bookshelf Publishing House by manager Regina Gold when Belinda was $55$ years old. Belinda worked for the company for ten years, receiving positive performance evaluations. When Belinda was $65$ years old, Regina fired Belinda, telling her that it was due to the economic downturn in the industry due to the declining sales by independent book stores. Belinda believed that Regina$$s reasoning was a pretext and that she was actually fired due to her age. Belinda filed a claim against Dusty Bookshelf under the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Which of the following defenses is most likely to be used by the company in this case?

Group of answer choices

The disparate treatment defense

The Bona Fide Occupational Qualification $($BFOQ$)$ defense

The legal mandatory retirement defense

The same$-$actor defense