Forced retirement due to age can be justified, rules ECJ
A UK law which allows companies to force people to retire at 65 or at that company's specified retirement age does not necessarily breach European Union laws, the EU's highest court said today.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) rejected claims by Heyday, a part of ageing charity Age Concern, that the UK's law breached EU equality regulations.
The ECJ said that the UK can have a law forcing retirement as long as it helps to meet a social policy objective related to employment. It said it was up to the UK's High Court to decide if the law did support a social policy objective.
Employment law expert Selwyn Blyth of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, said the Government was likely to win that argument in the High Court.
"The Government has always said that this is about ensuring that employers can plan for the future, that they can rely on people leaving the labour market at a certain time," said Blyth. "The Government has always had a social policy argument behind the law, and I think that will be seen as a legitimate aim in the eyes of the ECJ."
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