Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Age discriminationEquality, diversity and inclusionPay & benefitsPensions

European Court of Justice ruling allows age discrimination on mandatory retirement ages

by Personnel Today 29 Oct 2007
by Personnel Today 29 Oct 2007

Older workers have suffered a blow as the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled in favour of national ­mandatory retirement ages.

In Felix Palacios v Cortefiel Servicios SA, Felix Palacios de la Villa challenged Spanish legislation that permitted his employer to retire him at 65 against his will.

The Spanish court referred the matter to the ECJ, to establish whether mandatory retirement ages are inconsistent with the Equal Treatment Directive, under which the European Union prevents its member states from discriminating against employees.

Ageism

The ECJ found that mandatory retirement ages are discriminatory – the directive allows states to impose them anyway, provided they can justify them in the ­context of employment policy and labour market objectives. The ECJ accepted evidence supporting the social policy background to the Spanish legislation. It seemed to accept that a mandatory retirement age was in keeping with the Spanish government’s aim of promoting employment and creating labour opportunities across different age groups. It also said that the Spanish system of pension benefits provided adequate financial compensation for retired workers.

In the UK, the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 adopt a similar approach, allowing employers to set mandatory retirement ages. As long as the age limit is justified, or if it is set at 65 or over, the employer need only follow a relatively straightforward interview process with the employee (in which he or she may ask to be allowed to work longer) before being able to retire them against their will.

UK challenge

Campaigners in the UK have challenged this aspect of the regulations as being discriminatory – a High Court challenge by lobby group Heyday was put on hold pending the result of the Palacios case.

Their message is simple: forcing people to retire denies them the right to work – a right everyone should have, regardless of age. The government’s response, along with the ECJ’s, appears to be that this is absolutely right but only so far as is acceptable in the context of the government’s policy aims and objectives.

Contradiction

Is it right to outlaw discrimination on the one hand, but then expressly permit it in the scenario that hits older staff hardest? Would it be right to ban discrimination against disabled people, but to allow employers to dismiss them automatically once their level of disability reaches a certain point?

The answer must be, of course, that the regulations do not sufficiently protect older staff, and so do not seem to outlaw discrimination. We will wait and see how the UK government justifies its policy, but we can expect it to be along the lines of promoting certainty for employers and regulating labour flow. This is all very well, but is of little help for staff aged 65 or over who do not want, or cannot afford, to give up work.

The regulations go some way to cover older staff, but the government has striven to take account of employers’ desire to keep control of the make-up of their workforces in terms of age. Arguably, the regulations do not offer the same level of protection as the Disability Discrimination Act for disabled staff, for example, or the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations offer gays and lesbians.

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

The government has scheduled a review of the mandatory retirement age in 2011. We’ll have to wait and see whether it grasps the nettle and abolishes the last great barrier to equality across the age ranges.

James Baker, solicitor, MacFarlanes

Personnel Today

Personnel Today articles are written by an expert team of award-winning journalists who have been covering HR and L&D for many years. Some of our content is attributed to "Personnel Today" for a number of reasons, including: when numerous authors are associated with writing or editing a piece; or when the author is unknown (particularly for older articles).

previous post
Government bodges badger cull plan
next post
UK employers face tougher rules on redundancies after landmark decision by the Employment Appeal Tribunal

You may also like

NHS 10-year Health Plan sets out vision for...

3 Jul 2025

Living wage pushes up spring pay settlements

2 Jul 2025

Why bosses must set pay independently

2 Jul 2025

One in eight senior NHS managers from black...

1 Jul 2025

Reforming paternity leave could benefit UK by £13bn...

30 Jun 2025

Progressive DEI policy is a red line for...

27 Jun 2025

Bank of England says NIC rise is dampening...

27 Jun 2025

Graduate pay versus the living wage: an HR...

25 Jun 2025

BBC Breakfast bullying and misconduct allegations under investigation

20 Jun 2025

Pensions regulator: make sure summer staff don’t miss...

18 Jun 2025

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+