Retirement
Dismissal by reason of retirement is no longer a potentially fair reason for dismissal . An employer with a contractual retirement age who can justify it would have to rely on the residual category of “some other substantial reason” if they are going to justify a retirement dismissal.
To justify a contractual retirement age an employer must be able to show that having a blanket retirement age which applies to all staff is a proprtionate means of ahieveing a legitimate aim. In most circumstances this is llikely to be difficult for employers to justify, when employees’ ability continue to to do their job can be assessed individually rather than applying a set retirement age.
Links
ACAS Guidance on dismissal for retirement.
The Employment Equality (Repeal of Retirement AgeProvisions) Regulations 2011
Disclaimer
Please note that the information on this page is intended to be a guideline and is therefore a summary of the law only and not a complete guide. Before taking any action based on this information you are strongly advised to take legal advice. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained on this page is up to date and accurate, no guarantee can be given to this effect.