|
Redundancy decision reinforces age discrimination 1 March 2006 The Employers Forum on Age (EFA) believes the Government has fallen at the first hurdle by failing to tackle age discrimination within redundancy schemes. In October this year, age regulations will be introduced which make it unlawful for employers to treat people differently based on their age. Yet statutory redundancy schemes will continue to give people over the age of 40 higher rates of compensation than younger people. This sends a very mixed message to employers and employees alike. Sam Mercer, director of the Employers Forum on Age says: 'Is it right that two people, with twenty years service each, should get different rates of compensation because one is 39 and the other 42? Each arguably would face similar difficulty getting back into work? When the Government first signalled its intention to remove age based compensation in 2002, employers were ready to redesign their redundancy schemes to remove the inbuilt age bias. An opportunity has been missed. Inevitably schemes will now be challenged as 'ageist' over the coming years. ENDS Notes to Editors Back to the press office |
