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Employment relations minister on age discrimination laws

Rachel Carlyle questions Employment Relations Minister Jim Fitzpatrick on the new age discrimination law

Saga: How confident are you that the new laws will help older people? For example, there are plenty of people who didn't want to retire at 60 or 65 - or whatever age their firm had set - and wanted to carry on working. The new law gives them the right to ask to stay on, but how much real recourse do they have if their firm says no?

Jim Fitzpatrick: The right to request working beyond retirement age is modelled on the right to request flexible working for parents. This has been extremely successful in bringing about a culture change in the way that people work.

I believe we will see a similar success, when the new retirement rights come into force.

For the first time, employers will be encouraged to consider both the needs of the individual, and the business. The ‘right to request’, and ‘duty to consider’ will radically change the way that retirement is approached.

Employers are not required to give a reason why they are retiring someone at the default retirement age, 65. However, if the employer fails to follow the retirement procedure correctly, they may face claims for unfair dismissal.

Saga: In America, where there have been age discrimination laws for years, there's anecdotal evidence that some firms avoid employing older people because they're perceived as potentially legally troublesome. Are you worried that the same might happen here?

JF - Firms that avoid employing older people will expose themselves to legal challenge from unsuccessful job candidates.

Moreover, employers that take this approach will soon realise that denying themselves access to such a valuable resource makes no business sense whatsoever.

The culture change in creating more age-diverse workplaces has already started with employers realising the value of recruiting, training and retaining older workers.

Saga - Do you think the new legislation will do anything to change the culture that it's all right to discriminate against older people, but not against disabled people, ethnic minorities or women?

JF - It is true that, currently, age discrimination is not viewed as seriously as discrimination on the grounds of gender, disability or race. This might simply be because age is a condition we all have in common.

But the inevitability of age is no excuse for discrimination, nor should we ignore people’s abilities just because they are older.

I believe the new laws will accelerate a culture change. We can look forward to more people being judged on the skills and competences they can bring to the workplace, not on arbitrary and misconceived notions based on their age.

This article was created: 19 July 2006.
This article was last edited: 7 November 2006.

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