CBI Warning over Age Discrimination Law

The Independent has reported that the CBI said the reforms, under which employers will no longer be able to discriminate against workers on the grounds of age, or automatically require staff to retire at set ages, represented the “biggest employment law change in years”.

Reference: Independent , 30th September 2006

Supply Management Level of Preparedness

According to Supply Management, “Almost a fifth of buyers’ organisations are not prepared for the anti age discrimination employment law..”

Below are a few links for guides to the Age Legislation:

DTI Factsheet

The BBC Quick Guide

Potential Claims

According to the Telegraph firms could face up to 20,000 age bias claims

Where Does Your Business Stand?

From the 1st October new employment legislation comes into place that will make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of age unless it can be objectively justified. The legislation is aimed at preventing age discrimination against people of all ages and affects Recruitment, Selection, Promotion, Training & Development, Redundancy and Retirement.

• Below are a few questions that you should ask yourself regarding your business. If you answer “No” to any of the questions below, your business may be at risk of unlawful discrimination on grounds of age.
• Do you have an equal opportunities policy?
• Does it cover age?
• Is the normal retirement age for your business 65 years or over?
• Are you aware of the process that you are obliged to follow for every employee who is between 6 and 12 months from retirement age?
• Are you aware of the current age profile of your staff?
• Do you ensure age is never used as a factor in staff recruitment, training, development and exit procedures?
• Have you made sure that all of your staff are aware that discrimination and harassment on grounds of age is unlawful?
• If a member of your staff has a complaint about discrimination or harassment on grounds of age, is there a formal grievance procedure under which they can seek redress?

Susan Popoola

Human Resources Consultancy

Bringing Workforce Effectiveness to the Heart of Business

Copyright 2006 This document is the specific intellectual property of the Conning Towers Consultancy. Content may not be reused or reproduced without the specific permission of the owner or a reference to the source. Opinions may be generated from content obtained from other sources and such content is referenced as appropriate.

Hello world!

Welcome. I’m, Susan Popoola of Conning Towers, Human Resources Consultancy. This blog is all about the introduction of Age Legislation within the UK and it’s implications. Your questions and comments are welcome. I hope you find this both interesting and useful.