Retirement on day before 65th birthday is discriminatory
In Plewes v Adams Pork Produce Limited, a tribunal held that an employer could not rely on the default retirement exemption in Regulation 30 of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 when it retired an employee on the day before his 65th birthday. The exemption only applies where the employee retires on or after their 65th birthday. The dismissal was therefore discriminatory and could not be objectively justified.
Regulation 30 of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Age Regulations) provides that an employer will not discriminate against an employee on the grounds of age if it dismisses him or her for retirement at or over the age of 65. Any lower retirement age will however have to be objectively justified.
Mr Plewes’ contract of employment contained a clause which provided that his normal retirement date was the day before his 65th birthday and he was duly retired on that day having made an unsuccessful request to continue working beyond normal retirement age.
Mr Plewes brought a tribunal claim on the basis that his dismissal had been discriminatory on the grounds of age under Regulation 3 of the Age Regulations. Adams maintained that it had complied with the statutory retirement procedure and that it had dismissed Mr Plewes lawfully on his reaching his normal retirement age of 65.
The tribunal held that Adams could not rely on the default retirement “exemption” in the Age Regulations as it only applies to retirement at, or over, the age of 65, whereas Mr Plewes was made to retire the day before his 65th birthday. The tribunal therefore held that his dismissal was discriminatory. Adams conceded that it was unable to objectively justify the dismissal. The tribunal awarded Mr Plewes compensation of over £36,000.
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