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With the average award for age discrimination at over £15,000* employers need to take note.

ACAS advises you take care over:

  • Years of experience now count for much less, when recruiting staff. Though the guidance does not say so specifically, depth of experience is more critical. Guidance states that matching the type of experience to the job role should be the focus.
  • Specific qualifications continue to be less important. The guidance encourages qualifications to be balanced against skills and experience as well as considering equivalent qualifications.
  • Avoiding assumptions, especially:
    o About an employee’s needs or ambitions based on age, experience or service.
    o That there is more value in training younger staff than older staff – even though the Ministry of Justice itself makes just that assumption when it comes to Magistrates!
    o That an employee will want to retire at some point (or at any point).
    o That age affects performance – assessments must be based on demonstrable facts.
    o That employees must retire when they take their pension (which is factually incorrect).
    o Predicting an employee’s likely behaviour based on age.
  • Avoiding derogatory terms, our examples would be references to “wet behind the ears” or “past it”.
  • Even misplaced humour can come back to haunt an employer, ribbing an employee or winding them up over their age is dangerous. Perception by the recipient takes precedence over the intention of the sender (when judged in Tribunal).
  • In redundancy selection choosing short service over long service (which is less expensive). This can discriminate against younger employees, whereas “clearing out the deadwood” based on age-related assumptions discriminates against older employees.

Lawful age discrimination

  • Discrimination is allowed where the law provides for it, e.g. in Minimum Wages.
  • Discrimination is allowed for some service–related benefits such as increased holiday entitlement.
  • There are also some other specific exceptions – see the ACAS guide.

The risks of unlawful age discrimination include:

  • Faulty decision making based on stereotyping rather than facts.
  • Demotivating staff, both the staff themselves and colleagues.
  • Mistrust.
  • Age discrimination claims.

If medical advances continue then a child born today has a reasonable prospect of living to be 120. If that “child” retires at 65 then they will spent more of their life retired than they spend working.

Malcolm Martin FCIPD

Author Human Resource Practice

* based on 2013 to 2018.