A High Court judge ruled today that employers are legally entitled to force workers to retire at 65.
Mr Justice Blake insisted that the Default Retirement Age, which allows employers to terminate workers’ contracts without reason and without paying a redundancy settlement, is compatible with EU directives on age discrimination.
The case was brought by charities Age Concern and Help the Aged. The charities do not intend to appeal as they expect to see a change in the law anyway.
The ruling was welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) on the extraordinary grounds that fighting tribunal cases brought by sacked employees would be too costly.
Stephen Alambritis, an FSB spokesman, said: “Businesses need a period of stability to allow the recent changes in employment legislation to bed down. They do not want more tinkering with employment rules.”
The FSB’s comments seem to ignore the fact that 1.4 million people already work past retirement age in the UK. Many of these people perform vital tasks for businesses across the country. It is thought that more would continue working if given the choice by their employers.
Similarly, the FSB is leaving itself open to suggestion that it only wishes for tribunal cases to be allowed if it seems clear that they will win them. Comments like those made by Mr Alambritis risk causing further rifts between employees and the country’s largest representative of small business.
BecomingSelfEmployed.co.uk believes that recruitment processes and employment practices should be untainted by ageism. We should not still be having this argument in 2009. The Default Retirement Age is an arbitrary figure hanging over older workers, and denigrates the significant contribution that these individuals make to British business. We encourage the FSB to rethink its contribution, and we look forward to impending changes in these discriminatory laws.
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Agree with the court’s decision. At a 65 it would appear that a person would have had ample time to save for retirement or at the least form a financial long term strategy. Times are different from what they were 50 years ago when you could stay with one employer, expect a pension from that employer and a check from the government.
I started a business at a young age to help prepare for the time when I can not work. Very few employers provide pensions, and it is not certain if social security will even be around much longer.