A man in his 60s works with a team of colleagues in their 20s and 30s. The team, including the manager, often go out socialising but don't ask him along. He finds out that they discuss work issues during those trips and feels undervalued and left out.

Result: This is harassment, even though it is unintended. The manager needs to consider office-based meetings to prevent his older worker being excluded.
[source: Acas]

Case study: working past retirement

A building contractor has set a retirement age of 60 because of the hard physical nature of the work, but one 60-year-old wants to challenge it.

Result: He can bring a claim for unfair dismissal and age discrimination if he can challenge the firm's "objective justification" for a retirement age of 60.

The firm can't just say it's because of the nature of the work; they would have to explain in detail to the tribunal why this particular employee could not continue to do aspects of his work past 60.
[source: Russell, Jones & Walker]

Case study: company pensions

John is 64 and has asked to work beyond 65, which his company has agreed to, but he is worried about his pension: does his firm carry on contributing?

Result: His employers cannot stop contributing to John's pension unless he has already built up his maximum number of years under the scheme. Once he has, they can stop contributing. John can also draw his pension while continuing to work, if he wants to.
[source: DTI]

Written by Rachel Carlyle

This article was created: 24 July 2006.
This article was last edited: 6 November 2006.

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