Age Concern fight forced retirement
The European Court of Justice ruled on 5 March 2009 that the default retirement age of 65 does not contravene the European Framework Directive...
...on equal treatment and that certain differences of treatment on grounds of age do not constitute discrimination if, ‘within the content of national law, they are objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, including legitimate employment policy, labour market and vocational training objectives, and if the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary’.
The case was brought by Age Concern, who maintained that the fact UK employers can dismiss a member of staff without redundancy payments on that person’s 65th birthday was in breach of the EU’s Equal Treatment at Work Directive.
Kathleen Healy, an employment partner at Freshfields, said the estimated 260 discrimination claims on hold pending the ECJ judgment are now unlikely to succeed. She told Solicitors Journal: ‘Not only this, employers are now spared from many more potential claims by former employees who may have felt they were forced into retirement unfairly.’ She went on to explain that, despite appearances, this was not a clear victory for employers because the UK government still has to convince the High Court that forcible retirement at 65 is justifiable as a legitimate aim in terms of social and economic policy.
Shona Jolly, a barrister at Cloisters, the chambers acting for Age Concern pointed out that the High Court ruling was likely to be another 12 months away or more, during which time ‘the political and economic landscape will have changed even more markedly than it has over the period during which this case has been debated’.
Author: Clarissa Dann
Clarissa Dann was the editor of Caritas as well as an HR and management online service,he People Bulletin until July 2011.
She is now the editor of the specialist trade finance magazine, Trade and Forfaiting Review which can be viewed at www.tfreview.com but does write on charity finance and investment from time to time.
Clarissa has a background in legal and professional publishing, as well as business journalism and holds an MBA from
There are no comments on this article. Be the first to comment.