Age Discrimination
The hard-working bosses of small and medium sized businesses face much bureaucracy every day. Swansea solicitor Stuart Atherton reveals how tackling one such bundle of red tape – that covering age-related retirement – can be made so much simpler.
In October 2006 it became unlawful for employers and a number of other bodies to discriminate against a person on the grounds of age.
This was particularly effective at work and added to the policies that employers needed to ensure were in place to avoid discrimination on the grounds of age as well as on grounds such as sex, disability and race.
However, one criticism was that the same legislation provided for an individual’s employment to be brought to an end at the age of 65 – the default retirement age. This added a sixth potentially fair reason for dismissing an employee. Provided that the employer complied with criteria of notification and interview an employee could be dismissed on account of age in a fair, non-discriminatory way.
However, the Government has now announced that the default retirement provision of 65 will be abolished. It will be phased out from April 2011 when transitional arrangements will apply to any retirement notified before 6 April, which is to take effect before 1 October, whereupon the default retirement age will cease completely as a ground for compulsory termination of employment.
Currently employers can make staff retire compulsorily at 65 regardless of their circumstances. The provision to remove this “contradiction” from the regulations is part of the Government’s overview of demographic changes within society and to encourage people to work for longer should they wish to do so.
However, dismissals for retirement after October 2011 will still be permitted by individual employers if they wish to operate a compulsory retirement age within their contracts of employment - provided that they can objectively justify the practice.
The changes show once again the ongoing state of turmoil in respect of Employment Law generally and the necessity for employers in particular to keep reviewing the employment contract policies and more importantly the implementation and training in respect of such policies.
This process (together with training) forms part of the protection offered by Peter Lynn and Partners through the operation of the Guardian Business Support scheme, which operates on a retainer basis in respect of fees.
If you require more information on the protection offered by Guardian Business Support please don’t hesitate to contact me at Peter Lynn and Partners.
Photo Stuart Atherton, solicitor with Peter Lynn and Partners.