Age discrimination ruling allows employers to set retirement dates
According to this article, which is particularly pertinent to rural England in terms of its relatively older workforce:
“The UK’s most senior judges dismissed the appeal by a man who claimed he had been the victim of age discrimination when forced to retire at the age of 65, but they ruled that employers must be able to justify imposing mandatory retirement ages.”
I can see both sides of this. I am involved with a charity which felt obliged to allow 2 members of staff to stay on past 65 even though their performance had gradually declined and their staying on was creating a “dead man’s shoes” issue in terms of our succession planning.
On the other side of things my dad continues to work part time well past retirement age with a public sector employer to top up his pension.
On balance I do feel this judgement which enables companies to have an enlightened retirement policy is good news – as long as they exercise it fairly.