News

25 September 2009

High Court Ruling on Heyday

The High Court handed down its Judgment in the long-running Heyday appeal today. The Judgment means that it is legal for employers to force employees to retire at 65 in the UK.

Heyday (an organisation affiliated to Age Concern) argued that the that the European Equal Treatment Framework Directive 2000 (the “Directive”) is not fully implemented by the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 (the “Regulations”) because the Regulations allow a mandatory retirement age of 65. The case was referred to the European Court of Justice. The Attorney-General stated that the default retirement age was ‘justified by legitimate social policy objectives, such as those related to employment policy, the labour market or vocational training.”

In the High Court decision this morning, the case brought by Age Concern was dismissed. However, although Mr Justice Blake said that the default retirement age was not unlawful in 2006, there is now a ‘compelling’ case for considering whether a retirement age is necessary. He said that ‘the position might have been different if the government had not announced its timely review.’

This Judgment will mean that the hundreds of retirement-related Employment Tribunal cases which are currently on hold, are now likely to be dismissed.

Please note that this information is provided for general knowledge only and therefore specific advice should be sought for individual cases.

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