IHREC publishes anti-age discrimination guide on retirement and fixed term contracts.
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has published new guidelines for both employers and employees which aim to protect older workers seeking to remain in employment from facing discrimination in the workplace.
These guidelines are intended to assist employers, employees, trade unions, HR workers and legal professionals in the interpretation and implementation of particular age discrimination provisions of the Employment Equality Acts. The IHREC aims to address the practical issues that may arise from this statute, discussing the potential for discrimination with regards to the compulsory retirement of employees upon reaching a certain age and the use of fixed term contracts for people over that compulsory retirement age.
The IHREC summarises the wide legal framework of anti-discriminatory law within which the Employment Equality legislation surrounding age discrimination operates, acknowledging the protection afforded by the Constitution and other international human rights instruments, the role played by EU law through the Charter of Fundamental Rights, TFEU and Employment Equality Directive, and other national law regarding unfair dismissal and fixed term work.
In particular, the IHREC seeks to provide guidance on issues with regards to Section 6(3)(c) of the Employment Equality Acts which states ‘‘Offering a fixed term contract to a person over the compulsory retirement age for that employment or to a particular class or description of employees in that employment shall not be taken as constituting discrimination on the age ground if- (i) it is objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim, and (ii) the means of achieving that aim are appropriate and necessary.’’
As this provision is viewed by the IHREC to be an exemption to the general protection provided against age discrimination, it must be stringently interpreted. The IHREC affirms the necessity of objective justification in the establishing of compulsory retirement ages and the dismissal of employees who reach that age, as well as in relation to the offering of fixed term contracts to such employees, detailing the relevant tests carried in order to ascertain this objective justification.
Click here to read the IHREC’s guidelines.