Under the “duty to consider” procedure, if an employer wishes to retire an employee, it needs to notify the employee at least 6 months before the intended retirement date (but no more than 12 months in advance) (paragraph 2(1), Schedule 6 to the Age Regulations).  If the employer misses that first date, it still has an…

The old statutory retirement procedure (applicable prior to 6 April 2009) which, if correctly followed, protects an employer from unfair dismissal and/or age discrimination claims, only applies to employees.  When someone who is not an employee is compulsorily retired, it will be necessary to show that the retirement can be objectively justified.  The contrasting decisions in Seldon…

Campaign group Backto60 are “confident” that they will win their High Court claim launched today. Their claim relates to the increase of the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 years of age. The campaign group is claiming for the repayment of all pension payments that women born in the 1950s would have…

New employment tribunal statistics show a significant rise in the number of age discrimination claims submitted. The official Tribunal statistics for 2009/10 are available here. The Tribunal statistics are collated every year to report on the number and type of claims being submitted. The statistics show that 236,100 claims were submitted in total. Claims under…

Mr Johnson was a civil servant until he was made redundant in April 2007.  At the time of redundancy he was aged 57 years and one month.  He was entitled to a lump-sum payment of six months’ final pensionable pay under the Civil Service Compensation Scheme (CSCS). Under the CSCS rules, payments were tapered progressively for those aged…

This case was an appeal from the EAT. For details of the facts and a summary of that decision, click here. Ms Lockwood’s case was appealed to the Court of Appeal. The main issue was to consider whether her circumstances were materially different from the comparator and if so, whether there was an objective justification for…

On reaching the retirement age of 50 under Air Product Plc’s (“APP”) defined benefit pension scheme Mr Cockram left APP and started to take his pension.  During his employment Mr Cockram had received stock options under APP’s Long Term Incentive Plan (“LTIP”).  Some were vested and some were unvested at the point of Mr Cockram’s…

Mrs Edie was part of a group of a number of employees whose employment transferred to HCL Insurance BPO services Ltd (“HCL”) following a TUPE transfer.  HCL sought to bring in measures to harmonise the terms of its employees and to improve its profitability. HCL attempted to negotiate terms with its staff, but unilaterally imposed…

Hungarian law allowed judges, prosecutors and notaries to work until 70. At age 70, they would be retired. On 1 January 2012, the retirement age was lowered to 62. Transitional provisions were in place, meaning that those already older than 62 would be retired on 30 June 2012. Those who would reach 62 during 2012…

In March 2012 the London Borough of Barnet Council (“Barnet”) approved planning permission for a primary school. The proposed site had been used by the local community for over eighty years, and as a garden centre for the last twenty. The garden centre ran workshops, activities and horticultural lessons for local residents, but had to…