New laws are set to prohibit discrimination based on age.
The European Employment Directive will come into force on 1 October 2006 and the Government has issued a consultation document on how it proposes to implement this legislation.

The Government believes that discrimination on the basis of age (in terms of both younger and older people) is unfair and that decisions should be based on the competence of an individual rather than their age.

The current proposals include a plan to scrap compulsory retirement ages. However, a default retirement age of 70 may be introduced. The consultation paper also proposes that the right to claim unfair dismissal should be extended beyond the current limit of 65 until the age of 70, should this become the default retirement age.

Changes to statutory redundancy payments would see service before the age of 18 counted. Payments would be calculated on the basis of one week's pay for each year of service regardless of age. There would be an entitlement to redundancy payments until the employee reached either a default retirement age of 70 or continue as long as the person remained in employment. It is proposed that the 20-year cap on length of service will continue.

Decisions on recruitment, promotion and selection would have to avoid age discrimination unless justified by, for example, the training needs of the job, health, safety and welfare or the need for a reasonable period of employment before retirement age.

The ECA will be issuing a formal response to the proposals but is likely to address the following issues:

  • do the proposals present an opportunity to retain skills and experience if an employee is willing to continue working beyond the current normal retirement age?

  • if an employee's contribution has declined but they wish to continue working beyond the normal retirement age, will the removal of a fixed retirement age create a problem for the company?

  • what steps will companies have to take to avoid claims that recruitment, selection and promotion decisions have been influenced by the age of the candidate?

  • will selection for redundancy on a last in, first out basis be permitted under the new legislation?

The proposals can be viewed on the DTI web site: www.dti.gov.uk/er/equality/age.htm.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor