Age discrimination lives

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Age discrimination lives

When is age discrimination not age discrimination? When it is discrimination on grounds of age, writes Paul Lewis

That seems to be the outcome of the test case in the European Court of Justice which is challenging the rules in the UK which allow people to be sacked at 65 just because they are 65.

The final ruling by the Court is expected around the end of the year. But this week the Advocate General - who gives his considered legal opinion to help the nine judges reach their decision - has held that a company can set a fixed retirement age at 65..."if that rule is objectively and reasonably justified in the context of national law by a legitimate aim relating to employment policy and the labour market."

That aim being apparently that, well, people should retire at 65. It's only natural. And it allows younger people to get jobs. But in the UK they are also subject to age discrimination sanctioned by the state.

When the Government brought in laws which banned age discrimination in the workplace in October 2006 it specifically allowed three discriminations on grounds of age to continue. One was retirement at 65. Another was the minimum wage which continues to be paid at three rates depending on age – 16-17, 18-21, and 22 or more. Statutory redundancy pay is also linked to years of service in the job at different ages – under 22, 22-40, and 41 . Somehow the Government believes all those discriminations are allowed because they can be 'objectively justified'.

Anyone who is dismissed because they are 65 has the right to ask if they can work longer. But the employer can fulfil that condition by considering the request and then saying 'No'.

So far 260 people who have had that experience have taken their ex-employer to an employment tribunal claiming age discrimination. If the European Court of Justice turns down this appeal they and thousands of others will have to put up with it, at least for now.

The Government has promised to look at this rule again in 2011. And given that it has now passed a law to increase state pension age from 65 to 68 starting in 2024 it seems very unlikely that this blatant age discrimination will survive much longer, whatever the European judges say.

* Paul Lewis is the editor of Saga Magazine's Money News section and the presenter of BBC Radio 4's Moneybox. Paul's opinions are his own and for general information only. Always seek independent financial advice.