MEP disappointed by European Court ruling on mandatory retirement age

10.54.00am BST (GMT +0100) Tue 23rd Sep 2008

The MEP who first helped to ensure that age discrimination in the workplace was outlawed across the EU has said that she is extremely disappointed by the initial opinion of the European Court of Justice, which supported the retention of UK 's Mandatory Retirement Age.

The Advocate General of the Court, who is charged with offering preliminary opinions on cases, said that the EU directives preventing age discrimination do not prevent Member States allowing employers to dismiss staff once they reach retirement age.

Following the decision today, Liz Lynne MEP, Liberal Democrat Employment Spokesperson in the European Parliament and shadow rapporteur for the Employment Directive 2000 that forced the Government to introduce anti age discrimination legislation in the UK, said:

"This decision is certainly a setback on the road to ending age discrimination. However, it is important to remember that this is only the opinion of the Advocate General, and is not binding on the Judges who will make the final ruling.

"The Advocate General himself said in his opinion that in a perfect world everyone would be judged individually and according to their merits. Unfortunately he shied away from moving towards this goal. I hope that the European Court itself will not make the same mistake.

"I sincerely hope that the formal ruling of the Court will put an end to the sudden cliff edge of retirement that forces people to stop working at a certain age whether they want to or not.

"It is also vital that this formal decision comes soon; there are now over 260 employment tribunal cases in England and Wales awaiting a final ruling, while thousands of people continue to lose their jobs unfairly every year. This cannot be allowed to continue."

ENDS

Editor's Notes:

Heyday and Age Concern applied for a judicial review of the Government's stance on employment rights for people over the age of 65 and Mandatory Retirement Age (MRA)

It follows the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (2006) that came into force on 1 October and was based on the European Employment Framework Directive 2000 outlawing age discrimination in employment and adult education.

At the moment, the new laws do not offer protection against employers forcing employees to retire at or after 65 or from refusing to recruit anyone over the age of 65.

Liz Lynne MEP was the ALDE Shadow Rapporteur on the directive and was responsible for having age included as grounds for discrimination.

According to the Employment Tribunals Service, about 260 cases in England, Scotland and Wales are awaiting a ruling on whether forcing workers to retire at 65 is unlawful.

The full text of the Advocate General opinion can be found at:

http://curia.europa.eu/jurisp/cgi-bin/form.pl?lang=EN&Submit=Rechercher$docrequire=alldocs&numaff=C-388/07&datefs=&datefe=&nomusuel=&domaine=&mots=&resmax=100