We have an employee who is due to retire next Oct 2014. Her contract of employment says "normal retirement age is 65". This lady has asked if she can stay on longer due to the government change in the state pension age increase in Jan 2014 from 65 to 66. We would prefer to have this lady leave at 65 due to her reduced work time and medical issues that preclude her from normal working; she is on light duties 2/3 days a week as opposed to full duties 5 days a week. We have a staff of over 400 the bulk of which work in production like this lady. The nature of the work can be physical very repetitive requiring high volume output to hourly targets. Are we obliged to allow this lady to continue working in the company to 66 years to her retirement?
Posted in : First Tuesday Q&A ROI on 1 October 2013
Zelda Cunningham
Arthur Cox
While the Unfair Dismissals Acts 1977 to 2004 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2011 do not permit an employee to take action against his/her employer by reason of the employer enforcing a mandatory retirement age, recent case law from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), which has been followed in Ireland has found that the enforcement of retirement ages is prima facie discriminatory and employers must objectively justify the imposition of the retirement age.
Generally, consent to late retirement is required from an employer is required, however, recent decisions of the Equality Tribunal have provided that any attempt by an employer to force an employee to retire at a
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Back to Q&A's This article is correct at 02/09/2015
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Zelda Cunningham
Arthur Cox
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