The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 come into operation on 1 October 2006.

These Regulations apply to employment and vocational training.  They prohibit unjustified direct and indirect age discrimination, harassment and victimisation on grounds of age whether, young or old.

The Regulations will:

·         prohibit age discrimination in terms of recruitment, promotion and training;

·         set a default retirement age of 65.  Retirement ages below the default retirement age will need to be objectively justified or changed;

·         introduce a new right for employee to request working beyond retirement age and a duty on employers to consider that request;

·         introduce a new requirement on employers to give at least 6 months notice to employees about their intended retirement date;

·         allow pay and non-pay benefits to continue which depend on length of service requirements of 5 years or less or which recognise and reward loyalty and experience;

·         provide exemptions for many age-based rules in occupational pension schemes; and

·         remove the upper age limit for unfair dismissal and redundancy rights, giving older workers the same rights to claim unfair dismissal or receive a redundancy payment as younger workers.

The Regulations give individuals important new rights, extend existing rights and remove traditional barriers. They will also place new responsibilities on employers and providers of vocational training who will have to incorporate the legislative changes into their HR policy procedures.

We will be running a series of briefings over the next few months to advise employers on the new legislation. In the meantime please feel free to download on “Good Employment Practices”