Age Discrimination

Age discrimination laws help ensure that you are not denied a job, an equal chance of training or a promotion because of your age. They also protect you from harassment or victimisation because of your age.

Age discrimination at work is unlawful in almost all types of employment. All employees and workers of any age are protected from age discrimination including partners of firms, contract workers and anyone in vocational training.

All aspects of your employment (or prospective employment) are protected from age discrimination, including your:

• Recruitment
• Employment terms and conditions
• Promotions and transfers
• Training
• Dismissals

In some cases however, different treatment of a worker or employee because of their age can be justified, for example making special provisions for younger or older workers in order to protect their safety and welfare.

Your employer must make sure that any redundancy policies don’t directly or indirectly discriminate against older workers. An example of indirect discrimination could be your employer selecting only part-time workers for redundancy, when a large number of these may be older workers. The only exceptions are where an age requirement can be objectively justified.

There is no upper or lower age limit on the entitlement of statutory redundancy pay. Your employer will have to pay you the statutory minimum redundancy payment even if you are under 18 or over 65 (or after your normal retirement age if this is lower).

The default retirement age is being abolished. If you did not receive notification of your retirement from your employer before 6 April 2011 the default retirement age will not apply to you.

If your employer did not notify you of your retirement age before 6 April 2011, they may still be able to decide at what age you retire. But they will have to justify this decision at an Employment Tribunal if questioned.

These changes will mean that in most cases you can choose when to retire.

What to do next:

Talk to your employer first to try to sort out the matter informally. You are entitled to write to your employer if you think you have been discriminated against or harassed because of your age.

Making a complaint about age discrimination:

If you feel you are being discriminated against at work, there are forms that can help you obtain information from the person or organisation you feel is responsible. You can then make a better, more informed decision about whether you want to start legal proceedings and, if you do, how to best present your complaint. For guidance on this contact one of our solicitors today.