European judges reject Age Concern's legal challenge over UK's compulsory retirement age » Communities » 24dash.com

European judges backed Britain's compulsory retirement age today - as long as it has a "legitimate aim" linked to social or employment policy.

The verdict in Luxembourg amounts to a defeat for Age Concern's legal battle to banish enforced retirement at 65, but the final decision still rests with the UK High Court.

The European Court of Justice acknowledged that EU rules do ban employment discrimination on grounds of age, but said the Equal Treatment Directive also states that differences of treatment may not amount to discrimination "if they are objectively and reasonably justified by legitimate aims, such as those related to employment policy, the labour market or vocational training".

The High Court, which sent the case to Luxembourg for clarification of the law, will now have to make a final ruling on whether the aims of the Government's 65 retirement age are "legitimate".

Today's judgment said EU governments were not required under the equality rules to draw up a specific list of the differences in treatment which they consider to be "justified by a legitimate aim".

It went on: The court notes that the aims which may be considered 'legitimate' by the directive, and, consequently, appropriate for the purposes of justifying derogation from the principle prohibiting discrimination on grounds of age, are social policy objectives, such as those related to employment policy, the labour market or vocational training.

"By their public interest nature, those legitimate aims are distinguishable from purely individual reasons particular to the employer's situation, such as cost reduction or improving competitiveness."

The judges added: "It is for the national court to ascertain, first, whether the United Kingdom legislation reflects such a legitimate aim and, second, whether the means chosen were appropriate and necessary to achieve it."

The UK's Employment Equality (Age) Regulations, introduced in 2006, ban age discrimination but exclude pensioners, who can be dismissed at 65 without redundancy payments, or at the employer's mandatory retirement age if it is above 65.

Government lawyers insisted in court that the exception was a matter for national rules, and the situation of retirement age workers should not be governed by the EU Directive.

Today's verdict, in what was seen as a test case, still leaves about 260 legal actions pending in tribunals, while thousands more pensioners who were forced to retire against their will have compensation claims waiting if the High Court's final ruling decides the compulsory retirement age is not justified.

About 25,000 workers are estimated to face "default retirement" at 65 in the UK every year, when they would be happy and able to carry on.

Age Concern said today that the result did not alter what it called the Government's contradictory position: "On the one hand it wants people to work for longer, on the other, it's happy to keep this legislation that reinforces a 'grey ceiling'."