‘Elder’
fire-fighters and dentists lose age discrimination claims
The ECJ held
in two separate discrimination claims that restricting applicants to join the
fire service to those under 30 is a genuine and determining occupational
requirement and setting a maximum age 68 for dentists to work in the national
health service was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.
In
Wolf v Stadt Frankfurt am Main, only those aged under 30 could apply to join
the German fire service. The ECJ held that the age limit is a genuine and
determining occupational requirement which is a proportionate means of
achieving a legitimate aim. Unchallenged scientific evidence proved that very
few people over 45 would have the exceptionally high physical capacity to fight
fires and a maximum recruitment age of 30 was proportionate as recruitment at
an older age would
mean that too
many fire fighters could not be assigned to the most physically demanding
duties and hose over 30 could not be assigned to those duties for a
sufficiently long period.
In
Petersen v Berufungsausschuss für Zahnärzte für den Bezirk Westfalen-Lippe,
German law sets a maximum age limit of 68 for dentists to be accredited to work
in the German national health service. The ECJ ruled this was not unlawful
since: (i) it had the
legitimate aim of protecting public health; and (ii)
it was proportionate as limiting the pool of dentists ensured the national
health service remained financially viable and it was the only way younger
dentists could be given the opportunity of working as national health
physicians.
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