Wednesday, October 8th, 2008
A legal adviser to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) says it is not unlawful for employers in the UK to oblige staff to retire at 65 as long as the process has a justifiable policy aim.
Advocate General Jan Marzak was expressing an opinion on a case brought by Age Concern challenging the UK’s default retirement age of 65.
The European Directive on Equal Treatment bans discrimination on the grounds of age. Age Concern believes the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 fail to fully implement the Directive because they allow a default retirement age of 65.
Marzak expressed the opinion that this retirement age was not unlawful as long as it could be justified as a means to achieve legitimate labour market objectives. The ECJ was only asked to rule on whether the default retirement age was permissible under the directive. It was not asked to go further and rule on whether or not it was justifiable.
The Advocate General’s opinion is not binding but it is followed in about 80% of cases. If the ECJ does follow his advice then the case will be referred back to the High Court in England to decide whether or not the default retirement age can be justified.
There are currently about 260 related cases on hold pending the ruling by the European Court.
If you would like advice on this or any other employment issue then contact Kevin Smyth.
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