Age equality

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 come into force in October 2006.

The regulations (which do not affect the age at which people can claim their state pension) implement European law (the age strand of directive 2000/78 EC which established a general framework for equal treatment in employment and vocational training). The Regulations: 

• ban age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training
• ban unjustified retirement ages of below 65
• remove the current age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights. 

They also introduce: 

• a right for employees to request working beyond retirement age and a duty on employers to consider that request 
• a new requirement for employers to give at least six months notice to employees about their intended retirement date so that individuals can plan better for retirement, and be confident that "retirement" is not being used as cover for unfair dismissal. 

If you feel that you have been the victim of age discrimination contact ATL for guidance.

Scope of the Regulations 
The Regulations apply to employment and vocational training. They prohibit unjustified direct and indirect age discrimination, and all harassment and victimisation on grounds of age, of people of any age, young or old - for detailed definitions of these terms visit the ACAS website.

As well as applying to retirement they: 

• remove the upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, giving older workers the same rights to claim unfair dismissal or receive a redundancy payment as younger workers, unless there is a genuine retirement
• allow pay and non-pay benefits to continue which depend on length of service requirements of 5 years or less or which recognise and reward loyalty and experience and motivate staff
• remove the age limits for Statutory Sick Pay, Statutory Maternity Pay, Statutory Adoption Pay and Statutory Paternity Pay, so that the legislation for all four statutory payments applies in exactly the same way to all
• remove the lower and upper age limits in the statutory redundancy scheme, but leave the current age-banded system in place
• provide exemptions for many age-based rules in occupational pension schemes.

Employers may be liable for actions of their employees as well as employees being individually responsible. Employers may also be held responsible for harassment by third parties such as service users and customers.

If you feel that feel that you have been the victim of age discrimination contact ATL for guidance.

The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has published good practice guidance on the regulations. Age and the workplace is available free online at www.acas.gov.uk or can be ordered from the publications orderline on 08702 42 90 90. If employers need further help, they can register online for one of the Acas training courses.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has guidance on this subject that can be accessed on their website at www.tuc.org.uk

Help and support 
For further advice on this issue, ATL members can speak to their school rep, their branch secretary or their regional official. They can also call the London (020 7930 6441), Cardiff (029 2046 5000) or Belfast office (02890 327 990) or email info@atl.org.uk.

For out of hours enquiries, call the out of office hours helpline on 020 7782 1612 (Monday-Friday, 5-8pm during term time).

If you are not a member, join now.

Useful websites

• http://www.tuc.org.uk
• http://www.acas.gov.uk
• http://www.agepositive.gov.uk/