Irish Labour Court finds mandatory retirement of County Council employee discriminatory

The Irish Labour Court has upheld a decision of the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) that Louth County Council failed to objectively justify a compulsory retirement age of 65.

The complainant, Mary Clarke, was employed as a clerical officer by Louth County Council in August 2001. Her contract of employment contained a clause which set her retirement age at 65. Employees hired subsequently at the same grade, however, were subject to a different retirement age under Circular Letter 4 of 2017. 

Ms Clarke emailed human resources 7 months prior to her 65th birthday to see whether she could remain in employment until her 66th birthday, at which point she would qualify for the State pension. Despite following up over a number of months, she did not receive a response until 2 days before she was due to retire. Her request was refused as the Council stated that she was bound by her contractual mandatory retirement age. Ms Clarke claimed that this was age discrimination contrary to Section 8 of the Employment Equality Acts.

The Labour Court agreed with Ms Clarke, concluding that the Council had failed to set out grounds that objectively justified the selection of the age of 65 as the retirement age for that grade of worker. It held that the Council's reliance on workforce planning and financial management was not justified by a legitimate aim as these factors equally applied to employees entitled to continue in employment beyond 65 based on the date they commenced employment.

The Court awarded €20,000 in compensation, an increase from the €13,000 awarded by the WRC.

Click here for the decision.

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