LONDON: New laws banning age discrimination at work contain legal grey areas which confuse many employers, according to two surveys on Friday.
From Oct. 1, it will be illegal for bosses to discriminate on the basis of age for recruitment, promotion or training.
Trade and Industry Secretary Alistair Darling said the changes will create a fairer workplace, but critics fear companies are unprepared.
A survey by law firm Eversheds found four out of 10 managers fear their existing procedures may break the new rules. Ten percent said they had no plan to cope and a third have not trained human resources directors.
“The recruitment process could become a breeding ground for potential claims,” said Eversheds employment law specialist Audrey Williams.
A second survey for the Employers’ Forum on Age, a body which campaigns on behalf of older workers, said half of all staff were unaware the law is changing.
Six in 10 said they had experienced ageism in the workplace.
Employers’ body the Confederation of British Industry said companies face a big challenge.
“This is the most significant change in employment law in recent years,” said Susan Anderson, CBI Director of Human Resources Policy. “Employers need to ensure that they comply with the new rules.”
Darling conceded there would be “some degree of uncertainty” over the effects of the legislation before courts had dealt with any test cases. But he stressed that change was needed to give people equal rights.
“Discrimination against you just because you are older has no place in a modern society,” he said. “Ignoring a whole generation makes no sense.”
Under the new laws, it will be illegal to force people to retire below the age of 65 and staff will have the right to ask to work beyond normal retirement age.
Darling said it would be allowable for a deep-sea diving company, for example, to refuse to employ an 80-year-old man on the grounds of unsuitability for the rigours of the job.
But a clothes store targeting young shoppers would not be able to refuse to hire a 50-year-old shop assistant on the grounds they were the wrong age profile.—Reuters
