Retirement at 65 rule goes to European court
The right of employers to force workers to retire at 65 will be considered at the European Court of Justice after a judicial review of the measure, which forms part of the government's age discrimination laws.
The High Court decided on Wednesday to refer the case after the National Council on Ageing the body behind charities Age Concern and Heyday argued the regulation contravened a European Directive outlawing age discrimination.
Under legislation which came into force in October, workers have the right to work up until the age of 65 and cannot be made to retire before then.
But these protections cease once workers reach 65.
Employers can force workers over 65 to retire even though they have the right to ask to work longer and can also refuse to employ anyone over 65.
"Forcing people to retire is denying people the right to work a right which everyone should have, regardless of age," said Neil Churchill of Heyday.
The group's lawyers argued that up to 25,000 people a year faced retirement against their wishes.
Employment Minister Jim Fitzpatrick has said the government will review the retirement age in 2011.
"If the accumulated evidence then shows that we don't need the default age, we will do away with it and the associated provision allowing employers to decline to recruit someone near or over 65," he told an employers' conference earlier this year.
The matter will now be considered by the European court for clarification on legal points before it returns to the High Court for a ruling.
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