In January the Government published its confirmation to implement the abolition of the DRA, which currently allows employers to legally compel employees to retire at age 65. Employers should note the following key dates in relation to the Government’s proposals under the Employment Equality Regulations 2011:
- 5 April 2011: The final date on which an employee can be given notice of retirement under the existing statutory retirement procedure.
- 6 April 2011: The date the new regulations are due to come into force. Employers will have to be able to justify objectively any compulsory retirements notified on or after this date.
- 30 September 2011: There are some transitional arrangements, which potentially allow for employers to retire employees up until April 2012 (and October 2012 in some cases) but this will only apply where notice is served before 6 April 2011 and the employee attains the age of 65 before 1st October 2011.
- 5 October 2012: This is the last date on which a retirement can take place under the default retirement age regime. I.e. this is the date on which 12 months’ notice that was given on 5 April 2011 will expire and where a 6 months extension has been agreed through the right to request procedure.
IMPORTANT: This is an amendment to what was formerly stated in the ACAS guidance: that the last safe date to begin the retirement procedure would be 31 March 2011 (given the need for a minimum of 6 months’ notice of intended retirement under the statutory retirement procedure).
Summing up therefore, subject to the transitional arrangements, from 6 April 2011:
- Dismissal of an employee over 65 can no longer be presumed to be a fair dismissal based on retirement.
- It will be direct age discrimination for an employer to dismiss an employee simply because of their age if the employer is unable to objectively justify maintaining a compulsory retirement age.
- Employees over the age of 65 will have full rights to challenge the reason for the termination of their employment in an Employment Tribunal.
If you are an employer or an employee and have a question relating to this article our specialist employment Solicitors, Susan Ball and John Taylor will be happy to discuss.
