Online News
Compulsory Retirement at 65 Deemed Fair
Added 10/11/2009
The High Court has upheld the law allowing UK employers to require workers to retire at the age of 65.
This means that as the law stands at the moment, an employer can dismiss a member of staff on or after that employee’s 65th birthday as long as they comply with the procedure as set out the Age Regulations. That procedure requires employers to give between 6 and 12 months’ notice of their intention to retire the employee, specifying the date of retirement.
The employee has a right to request to continue working beyond that date, however, subject to following the correct procedure to do so, the employer can refuse the request (and need not give reasons).
The High Court also rejected the challenge to the Regulation that permits employers to objectively justify direct age discrimination. This means that an employer may refuse to employ an individual on the grounds of that individual’s age, as long as they can demonstrate objective justification for that decision. This is in addition to the unchallenged right of the employer to simply reject (without the need for objective justification) the application of any prospective employee who is over the age of 65 or who would within 6 months of the date of his application reach the age of 65.
However this is unlikely to be the end of the story and there are strong indications that changes to the legislation will be made within the next 2 or 3 years.