Age discrimination alert

After October 1st, you will need to exercise great caution in phrasing job descriptions to avoid allegations of age discrimination.

From that date it will be illegal to discriminate on the basis of age. This legislation (Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006) will be the most radical change to UK employment law for a generation.

The new laws will outlaw age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training, bringing far-reaching implications in the workplace. This is why Michael Page International and Accountancy Additions is taking the lead and alerting clients to the extent of the changes and their consequences. Being geared up for October 1st should be a priority for all employers. Here is our summary of the key points:

Recruitment, Selection & Promotion
In recruitment, selection or promotion, an employer cannot discount an individual simply because they’re too old or young, or because they won’t ‘fit’ into a department. Employers must review any job application forms and advertisements to check for controversial words or phrases that might indicate a certain age group: words such as ‘energetic’, ‘potential’, ‘experienced’, ‘young’ or even ‘dynamic’ may give rise to a complaint. In future, selection must be based on specific skills required for the role, and in the case of promotion, performance, rather than setting the criteria on the basis of age.

Benefits
Benefits given to staff could be deemed ‘unlawful discrimination’ if the criteria for awarding them is based on age. There is an implication that younger employees haven’t been able to meet the criteria set and are therefore discriminated against. The regulations state that where service-related benefits are provided and the basis for determining the level of those benefits is on age or experience ,then this is permissible up to a limit of five years. For example, an employee is given an extra day’s holiday for each year of service up to a maximum of five years.

Retirement
Retirement ages lower than the National Default Retirement Age (currently set at 65) will be directly discriminatory unless they can be objectively justified under the standard procedure. In general terms, the regulations aim to remove the ability to retire employees simply because that employee has reached a certain age. The ‘Duty To Consider’ procedure has been included to assist in genuine retirement situations. Failure to follow the defined procedure may result in the retirement being deemed unfair dismissal and will undoubtedly result in age discrimination claims.

“Retailers will have to be more imaginative about how they recruit from the raw data and will have to think long and hard about the relevant skills and experience.”

Pensions
Given the complexity of the nature of pensions, these have, for the most part, been excluded from the Regulations. However, employers and trustees of the occupational pension need to review the scheme and consider the acceptability of any criteria used based on age.

“Talented individuals will simply walk away from employers that are not getting their house in order.”

Dismissal
Length of service remains a legitimate factor in calculating redundancy payment. The age multipliers will go, so all years of service will count equally whatever the employee’s age. Upper and lower ages for payments will be removed but the 20-year cap on service for calculating payments will remain. Although not addressed specifically, ‘Last in, first out’ will clearly be a more risky means of selection for redundancy.

These are the basics; there is a wealth of detail that you need to know before the changes become mandatory. On the right are some links to key sources, where comprehensive information is available.

Produced with thanks from Michael Page Recruitment.