EU Age ruling disappointing but Government must now act to end UK's mandatory retirement age
March 5, 2009 10:10 AM
The European Court of Justice this morning ruled that the UK was not in breach of EU law by retiring people compulsorily at a certain age.
Liz Lynne MEP was the European Parliaments draftsperson for the Liberal and Democrat Group for the original Employment (Age) Directive 2000 which ensured that age discrimination in employment was outlawed across the EU and was being interpreted by the court in this case.
Liz, who is the Vice - President of the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee, supported the legal challenge, which has been taken forward by Heyday.
Commenting after the ruling today Liz said:
"This is a bitter blow for older people. It is the UK Government which must now act and put an end to the unfair and discriminatory practice of mandatory retirement ages.
"It has always seemed wrong to me that just because someone reaches 60 or 65 they can be thrown on the employment scrapheap.
"We must continue to work to end the sudden cliff edge of retirement that forces people to stop working at a certain age whether they want to or not, whilst ensuring that individuals still remain entitled to a state pension at an agreed statutory age."
ENDS
Notes:
The Government has committed itself to a review of the UK's mandatory retirement age, which it has pledged to do in 2011. The Government has already committed itself to ending the mandatory retirement age in the public sector, but has so far failed to propose changes to private sector legislation.
Age Concern recently found in a survey of workers in their 50s and 60s that nearly 80 per cent were against a mandatory retirement age and nearly 60 per cent wanted to work beyond the state pension age, either full or part-time.
Liz Lynne is co president of the European Parliament's Age Intergroup and is also currently the rapporteur for the European Parliament's Employment and Social Affairs Committee on equal treatment legislation that will outlaw discrimination on the basis of age, religion or belief, sexual orientation and disability in access to goods and services.
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