From 1 October 2006 age discrimination will become illegal, discrimination on the basis of age will then be subject to all the provisions of discrimination law.  The new legislation then requires employers to review all their employment practices to ensure they are based on skills and competencies, not age.  This means employers must not;

• Directly discriminate on grounds of age

• Indirectly discriminate by applying a general criterion, provision or practice that disadvantages people of a particular age of age group.

• Victimise or harass  individuals on grounds of age e.g. if someone makes an age-related complaint.

The New Legislation applies to all employers, upper age limits on dismissal and redundancy are abolished.  Oder workers may be able to work beyond the age of 65.  The laws will ban direct and indirect discrimination in the areas of recruitment, promotion and training.

 

Retirement date
Employers will still be permitted to retire staff at age 65 or at their normal retirement age below 65.  But any retirement age below 65 must be objectively justified.  Employers will also have to give an individual at least six months notice of their retirement date.

Workers will also be able to remain in their job beyond the age of 65 if their employer agrees.

 

Redundancy

• Employers must vet their selection criteria to ensure they are not discriminatory.

• The redundancy pay upper age limit will be reduced.

• Similarly the lower age limit for calculating length of service.

• Tapering payments from age 64 will not be permitted.

• Using length of service to calculate redundancy pay is unaffected.

• Any enhanced redundancy payments should be reviewed for discriminatory practice.  Our advice is that employers should use age multiples from the standard scheme as the basis for enhancement.

Recruitment

Ask any job-seeker over 45 their experiences and they will confirm they feel discriminated against by most employers they apply to.  If that is the case employers will need to change their work recruitment practices significantly.  It is imperative that employers have objective work selection criteria which do not directly or indirectly discriminate on the basis of age.

 

Absence from work

Whilst older employees have lower absence from work, they are more likely to fall chronically ill.  It is important that employers have clear policies on sick pay etc and that these are enforced uniformly for all staff.

 

Redundancy and Dismissal

Length of service and age are often used in selection criteria,  employers will need to consider carefully if such criteria can be used in the future.  For example short service employees are more likely to be younger - this could potentially leads to a claim of indirect discrimination.