AGE DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION-THE DEFAULT RETIREMENT AGE OF 65 WILL NOT LAST FOREVER “THE HEYDAY CASE”

On 25th September the High Court issued a long awaited ruling that keeps the default retirement age at 65.

The court ruled that the UK age discrimination law exemption allowing employers to retire employees at 65 against their wishes does not infringe EU law. The judge however had misgivings about 65 being the right age, but held it was justifiable at the moment. The judge went on to say that he could not see how 65 could remain the threshold and that it would not be justifiable in the future following a proposed government review.

This means that you can still legally carry on retiring your staff when they reach 65 (or the normal retirement age for the job if that is different).

BUT THIS WILL NOT CONTINUE FOR MUCH LONGER

The ruling by the court sounds the death knell for the default retirement age of 65 and there is no doubt the default age will change sooner rather than later. It is not about if, but when the law changes and Employers should be thinking now about what the changes will mean for them and putting plans in place to avoid future discrimination claims.

Employers should be asking some key questions:

• What changes will we need to make to our HR policies and practices?
• What will this mean for our staff appraisal and performance management systems?
• Will we need to think again about how we manage and engage a changing workforce?
• What does this mean for future workforce planning?

As a direct result of this case the Government has brought forward its review of the default retirement age from 2011 to 2010 - watch this space for more news.

If you would like to discuss the implications of these changes for your organisation feel free to contact Sue Seaman, our Equality and Diversity Team leader.

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