Age Discrimination Legislation - Here Now!
As an employer, you cannot have missed the fact that the new Employment Equality (Age) Regulations come into force on 1st October 2006. As this date is now upon us it is important that employers recognise and carry out the required changes soon. In this article Jenny Blackmore summarises the key points you need to be aware of.
- The regulations cover employment and vocational training, recruitment, promotion, development, termination, benefits and pay.
- The regulations cover people of all ages, old and young
- A default retirement age of 65 will be introduced throughout the UK, along with new statutory procedures for dealing with retirement.
- Upper age limits for unfair dismissal claims will be removed and employees over 65 will have the same rights to claim unfair dismissal as younger workers.
- Service related benefits based on length of service can continue only if they accrue for service of less than 5 years. Benefits that depend on service beyond 5 years will only be able to continue if a legitimate 'business need' exists, for example to maintain workforce stability by rewarding loyalty. Employees over 65 should receive the same benefits as other employees
- The Pensions part of the legislation has been dealyed until December the 1st whilst the Government 'consults further.
- The upper and lower age limits for receiving a redundancy payment are removed and statutory redundancy payments will no longer be tapered after the employees' 64th birthday.
The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations are particularly relevant when you are recruiting. Some of the key areas you will need to consider are as follows:
- Treat all applicants fairly and consistently when recruiting for a post. You will only be able to treat job applicants differently on grounds of their age if they possess a characteristic related to age which is a genuine occupational requirement for that post.
- Terminology in advertisements should be carefully selected avoiding ageist language, such as 'mature', 'young' or 'energetic'.
- Personal details should be separated when short listing applications, for example, ensure that application forms do not request an applicant's date of birth or unnecessary information about periods of employment and dates.
- Ask job-related questions only and mark candidates against selection criteria to help decision making, and monitor fairness of the recruitment process.
- Where possible, use a mixed-age interview panel and do not make assumptions about capability or medical fitness based purely on age.
- Make promotion opportunities available to all staff and do not rule people out based on their age.
- Rates of pay should be linked to the skills, performance and experience of an employee, not to their age.
Have a look at the News section of our website, www.hradvantage.co.uk/news, to view our previous articles on the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, or for further information about how they might affect you, please contact Jenny Blackmore on 01404 42359 or any member of the HR Advantage team. For a free copy of our Managers Guide to the Regulations please e-mail simona@hradvantage.co.uk.
September 2006
