A 70-year-old woman will hear today whether her appeal against her former employer, a local council was successful, after she was released from her job as a fitness instructor for being too old.
Celia Powis, decided to appeal against a decision taken by Worthing Leisure Centre not to renew her contract to teach pop mobility – intensive workouts to music – last month.
The current law means that the council is legally entitled to force people to retire at or after the age of 65. However, the retiree is entitled to argue their case to stay on.
Mrs Powis told the BBC: “I’ve demonstrated I can work as hard as anyone else and when I can’t work as hard as anyone else I would not want to be there.
“I think I’m a good judge of when I stop working.”
A spokeswoman for Worthing Borough Council said: “This council has adopted a policy to deal with age discrimination that is fully compliant with current UK legislation.
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“Under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, employers are entitled to require their employees to retire at their normal retirement age.”
An appeal hearing on Tuesday will decide whether she will be reinstated.
