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UK Takes Age Discrimination Up A Notch?or Down follow this blog post

posted by on Sept. 22, 2006

Perhaps in an effort to right a few wrongs, the UK?s new laws on age discrimination that go into effect next month are pushing the limits well beyond comparable regulations here in the US.

Or, perhaps what we are seeing is the first flexing of Boomer muscle that sooner or later will find its way to the US.
Listening to the description of the new laws on a Peopleclick webinar yesterday was enlightening. The program was excellent.
There were a couple points that stood out as different from the thinking here.
- The UK laws will concentrate on discrimination of BOTH older as well as younger workers. So, for example someone you think is "wet behind the ears" might be justified in accusing you of harrassment and, should you use his or her inexperience to deny them that supervisory opening, you may be called upon to demonstrate how their age relates to performance.
- In another move distinctly different than the US, the UK elaws address both direct and indirect evidence of discrimination. For example, a college program that solely targets specific colleges and results on hires ofnew grads for specific jobs could be unlawful unless older folk can find alternate means to apply and be fairly screened and selected (unless you can justify why only young people can do that job and why older folks with all that experience can not. Apparently indicating that a job is suitable for people with say "2-5 years experience"- will be potentially unlawful in the UK- unless the company can justify that someone with too little or too much experience cannot perform properly, it will also be unlawful to include experience ranges in job descriptions, job postings, ads, interviews, compensation, promotion etc. without justification.
- Companies will be held fully responsible for the age discrimination exhibited any employee or any agent of the employer.

On the other side of the ledger, it was surprising to me that the law only applies up to folks 64 and a half years old and younger. The government opined that since it is legal for companies to forceably retire their employees at 65 with 6 months notice anything goes after that?.hmmm.

The next few months are going to be an interesting time for recruiters in the UK.

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3 comments

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  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Karen, generally Wales, England,Scotland and Northern Ireland are treated as one with this type of thing. Across Europe is more complicated and is something the law makers have probably not even considered.

    These laws will be hard to uphold within the Country so quite how they will control it across European border remains to be seen. I'm not sure they will be able to. In some countries we see blatant age discrimination by companies and candidates just accept it.

    I guess it will be down to common sense again and up to us Recruiters wherever posiible to help educate our customers. It is in our best interests after all.

    With regard to religion I would guess it comes under general discrimination. Minority religious groups are well protected in the UK, some would say over protected. For example I am aware of several instances where Christian groups have not been allowed to meet and sing or do whatever they do in public just in case they upset minority religions.

    As for illegal immigrants? This is quite a sore point at the moment with Blair's gang so I can't really answer that one yet. What protection do you think they should have and from what?

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Thanks for adding to the context (although it wasn't peopleclick that misunderstood but my listening skills). In searching for some additional resources I found an excellent UK gov site with extensive toolkits and analysis at http://www.agepositive.gov.uk/ Gerry

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    This new legislation is not restricted to the UK but is in fact a European directive. 5 other Countries are already underway.

    Under the EC Framework Directive, member states must introduce national legislation to combat age discrimination no later than December 2006.

    While the Directive has been implemented in Belgium, France, Italy, The Netherlands and Spain, legislation has not yet been introduced in Germany, Sweden and the UK. The deadline for implementation in Germany is December 2006, while legislation in Sweden is anticipated in January 2007. In the UK, legislation is due to come into force on 1 October.

    Peopleclick might have misunderstood the retirement situation.

    The actual facts about retirement for the UK are:

    Upper age limits on unfair dismissal and redundancy will be removed.

    There will be a national default retirement age of 65, making compulsory retirement below 65 unlawful unless objectively justified.

    Employees will have the right to request to work beyond 65 or any other retirement age set by the company. The employer has a duty to consider such requests.

    So, rather than forcing people to retire by 65, this law will prevent people from being retired off early whilst also giving them a more realistic opportunity to continue beyond 65. They have simply selected the age of 65 as a minimum default retirement age.

    The employer will now have to have a pretty good reason to say no to someone other than "your too old."

    A positive move I think.