Barking and Dagenham Borough Council operated a loyalty scheme in which workers would be paid an additional amount if they could satisfy two criteria relating to age and length of service. An employee needed to have 25 years of service and be over 55 years old to qualify. As part of a large scale job…

Older women with breast cancer are having their lives put at risk by age discrimination in the NHS, experts warned yesterday. They are less likely to be diagnosed or given surgery on the NHS than younger patients – and have a worse chance of being offered proper treatment. Now cancer specialists have demanded action from…

Often considered undesirable, grey hair has made surprise appearances on the heads of young celebrities like Lady Gaga, Kelly Osbourne and Pixie Geldof. But how does leaving one of the body’s most noticeable signs of aging exposed fare among women in the workforce, where ambitious young workers are battling older colleagues for the world’s top…

As it enters its ninth season, The Big Bang Theory is an aging sitcom. But a recently-fired employee of the show claims in a new lawsuit he was ousted because of his age, despite his years of experience in the industry. According to a Deadline report, former Second Assistant Director Christopher Klausen claims in a legal filing that…

Earlier this month, the Public and Commercial Services Union challenged the government’s attempts to reduce the level of redundancy pay for civil servants, and won. The case has been hailed as a “major victory”, but it may not be the triumph it first appears. Under the old civil service compensation scheme, employees under 50 (or…

The forced early retirement of certain professionals constitutes, in certain circumstances, unjustified discrimination on the basis of age, the Court of Justice of the European Union has recently confirmed. Any national laws which drastically and abruptly lower the retirement age for a sector of the working population could be in breach of EU law. EU…

The eventual cost to the BBC of the case is likely to be well over £100,000. The figure for external legal costs, of £44,740.03 plus VAT, was paid to just one barrister, Jason Galbraith-Marten, who represented the BBC at the 12-day employment tribunal hearing. The corporation instructed Mr Galbraith-Marten through its own legal department rather…

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that 1.03m people past the traditional retirement age continue to toil away, making them an important – and growing – sector. To put the number in context, just over a decade ago fewer than 450,000 of those aged over 65 had jobs and the ONS now estimates that…

Age discrimination protections should be extended to cover the provision of goods, facilities and services, according to the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland. Dr Evelyn Collins CBE, chief executive of the Commission, issued a call for the introduction of new age discrimination measures on the tenth anniversary of age discrimination in employment being made unlawful.…

Mr Ayodele worked as a kitchen porter for Compass Group plc (“Compass”) and was retired upon reaching his 65th birthday. He made a request to work beyond 65, but this was refused. He brought a claim of unfair dismissal and age discrimination. Compass operated a policy of retirement at 65, with no exceptions. The policy…