18-09-2007
Age discrimination claims likely to rise
BPE's head of employment Darren Sherborne has warned that age discrimination claims are likely to rise.
As the Age Discrimination Act reaches its one year anniversary in October Darren has warned employers to expect age discrimination claims to pick up pace during the next 12 months.
He says that new legislations always has a bedding in period and that it is only a matter of time before employees begin to use the anti-ageism law to bring claims against their bosses.
According to figures recently released by the Tribunals Service, age discrimination claims made up 972 of the 137,000 employment claims in 2006-07 - a drop in the ocean compared to claims for other forms of discrimination.
Darren suspects that age discrimination cases are not yet hitting the headlines because many employers are still trying to resolve these types of disputes internally after a member of staff raises a grievance. It is believed that many cases have simply had insufficient time to reach the tribunal hearing stage.
“When the legislation was first introduced our biggest concern was that employers would fall foul of the new law when dealing with the retirement issues of older workers,” said Darren.
“However it has been reported that staff recruitment is resulting in most age discrimination claims, which is surprising. Saying that however, only last week I walked past a shop in Cheltenham with a notice in its window seeking ‘mature’ shop assistants, so the age discrimination message is clearly not being heeded by some businesses,” he added.
Although Darren and his team of four experienced employment lawyers have yet to be approached by an employer facing an age discrimination claim, they are urging businesses to use the one year anniversary of the Act to audit relevant policies and procedures so they don’t fall foul of the law.
“It is never too late to ensure that you are compliant with the Age Discrimination Act and to remember that, as an employer, the legislation applies equally to young and old workers,” said Darren
BPE’s employment team is ranked within the top tier of independent legal directory, the Legal 500, for employment law advice within Gloucestershire and the M4 corridor. In the past three years they have not lost an employment tribunal claim for an employer.
As the Age Discrimination Act reaches its one year anniversary in October Darren has warned employers to expect age discrimination claims to pick up pace during the next 12 months.
He says that new legislations always has a bedding in period and that it is only a matter of time before employees begin to use the anti-ageism law to bring claims against their bosses.
According to figures recently released by the Tribunals Service, age discrimination claims made up 972 of the 137,000 employment claims in 2006-07 - a drop in the ocean compared to claims for other forms of discrimination.
Darren suspects that age discrimination cases are not yet hitting the headlines because many employers are still trying to resolve these types of disputes internally after a member of staff raises a grievance. It is believed that many cases have simply had insufficient time to reach the tribunal hearing stage.
“When the legislation was first introduced our biggest concern was that employers would fall foul of the new law when dealing with the retirement issues of older workers,” said Darren.
“However it has been reported that staff recruitment is resulting in most age discrimination claims, which is surprising. Saying that however, only last week I walked past a shop in Cheltenham with a notice in its window seeking ‘mature’ shop assistants, so the age discrimination message is clearly not being heeded by some businesses,” he added.
Although Darren and his team of four experienced employment lawyers have yet to be approached by an employer facing an age discrimination claim, they are urging businesses to use the one year anniversary of the Act to audit relevant policies and procedures so they don’t fall foul of the law.
“It is never too late to ensure that you are compliant with the Age Discrimination Act and to remember that, as an employer, the legislation applies equally to young and old workers,” said Darren
BPE’s employment team is ranked within the top tier of independent legal directory, the Legal 500, for employment law advice within Gloucestershire and the M4 corridor. In the past three years they have not lost an employment tribunal claim for an employer.
