The Employment Appeal Tribunal or EAT has given judgment in the case of Secretary of State for Trade & Industry v Rutherford. This was on the issue of whether the upper age limits for claiming redundancy and unfair dismissal compensation are lawful under Article 141 of the Treaty of Rome.
The employees were complaining about the rules which stated that redundancy pay could not be claimed by employees over 65, and that unfair dismissal could not be claimed by those over the normal retirement age for the job (or 65 if there was no normal retirement age). Their arguments were that these provisions indirectly discriminate against men.
The employee's claims were rejected by the EAT as it decided that the Employment Tribunal was wrong to decide the limits had a disparate impact on men and were therefore, indirectly discriminatory. It also ruled that, in any event, the social policy objectives of applying upper age limits were justified. It is not known whether there will be a further appeal to the Court of Appeal. In any case the government is planning to provide further regulations on the area of compulsory retirement ages under the EC Equal Treatment Framework Directive (No.2000/78) which will prohibit age discrimination from October 2006.
This is a welcome decision as it provides certainty to employers when dismissing those at or above the upper age limits for these claims. For more information please do not hesitate to call Steen & Co Employment Solicitors.