Good News for the Oldies
‹ Back to list 17 Nov 06
The new Age Discrimination Regulations came into effect on the 1st October 2006 amidst an alarming lack of awareness or
understanding of the way in which these new laws will affect employees of all ages and employers.
Recent surveys by Help the Aged, and other organizations revealed that both employers and
employees either had no idea the regulations were coming into effect on the 1st October or, if they did, did not understand how the law had changed.
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 make it unlawful to make employment decisions based on a person’s
age. Employers can no longer set a compulsory retirement age below 65. The current upper age limit for eligibility to bring unfair dismissal and redundancy claims will be removed.
The age regulations will affect nearly every kind or business and organisation in one way or another. It will make us all think about the way we advertise, recruit and retain employees, including:-
Recruitment advertisements
Employers will not only have to avoid specifying a minimum/maximum age but also length of experience as this could be indirect discrimination. For example, asking for graduates may discriminate against older workers. Words such as "senior" or "mature" could be considered discriminatory against younger applicants.
Application forms
It is not unlawful to ask for a date of birth but employers may like to ask for this information on a separate monitoring form
that will not be seen by the selection panel.
Selection procedures
Certainly expressions such as "over the hill", "past it" or "need for new blood" should not be used and employers will have
to avoid age stereotypes.
Training
Training will need to be made equally available to young and old.
Policies
Employer’s redundancy policies will need to be reviewed as for example, last in, first out or length of service as criteria is likely to be discriminatory. Bullying and harassment policies will need to cover age. Retirement age will need to be considered as employers will be forced to justify having a contractual
retirement age under the age of 65 years. There is now a mandatory requirement to serve a notice on any employee explaining their new legal rights not to be arbitrarily retired at 65. There will be certain justifiable reasons for an employer to directly discriminateon the grounds of age, for example health and safety or for a genuine occupational requirement.
Employers will need to ensure that staff are fully trained on the new law to avoid claims of harassment. At present jokes about age in the work place are socially acceptable but in future it remains to be seen whether Tribunals will consider those offended by such banter to be over-sensitive. Have we seen the last of the 40th birthday card containing a joke about getting old?
The results of research by the Employers Forum on Age published in April 2005 shows that older people are happier at work than their younger counterparts (that’s something to look forward to!). In fact ageism is a bigger problem for workers in
their late teens than their 50s.
It should not be too difficult for employers to implement the new regime provided they take the trouble to become acquainted
with the changes. We are able to advise you on your policies and procedures in light of the new legislation. Ensure that
you avoid any claims. We can advise anyone affected by the new law — whether it be employer or employee.
Jennifer Carpenter - Partner
