The Coalition Government and Age Discrimination, Journal of Business Law

In April 2010, the 'Default Retirement Age' was repealed. This had permitted employers to retire most workers at 65, thus legitimizing blatant age discrimination. Those approaching retirement age, arguably most in need of protection from age discrimination, may have welcomed the repeal. However, employers may still force workers to retire, but this time they must objectively justify the retirement. The ECJ has directed that an employer's objective justification must accord with expressed government social policy, which was changed radically by the Coalition Government, and now appears to be out of step with other ECJ and Court of Appeal pronouncements on compulsory retirement. Thus, litigants must scour various government statements for a social policy, and then decide if it can be reconciled with precedent, and any parallel claim for unfair dismissal. This article explores and speculates when an employer may succeed in objectively justifying compulsory retirement