Unfair Dismissal And Retirement Age:

[icde]

As you may have already heard on the news, the EAT has held that employees over normal retirement age cannot claim unfair dismissal or statutory redundancy payments. (Secretary of State v Rutherford & Bentley).

Whatever the finding of the court in the Rutherford case, this is an area that seems ripe for review by parliament. The government has announced plans to encourage people to defer taking their state pension until age 70 and there is much concern that given the pensions crisis, we will all need to work longer. Not only that but legislation outlawing age discrimination, as required by the Employment Framework Directive, will have to be implemented by October 2006. So watch this space.