First case involving discrimination against the young

A 19 year old woman who claims she was sacked for being too young has been awarded more that £16,000 in compensation claiming that she suffered age discrimination when she was dismissed from her job as an administrative assistant. The company had told her that she was too young for the post as they needed an older person with more experience and it was concluded by an Employment Tribunal that she had been discriminated on the grounds of age saying “the company had assumed that capability equals ex-experience and experience equals older age… age was the predominant reason for the decision to dismiss”.

This is an important decision with far reaching consequences as it is often thought that age discrimination laws are only there to protect older workers but this case is a reminder that everyone is entitled to be treated fairly, whether they’re close to retirement or just starting out in work.

The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 mean that age discrimination in employment is unlawful in the same way as discrimination on gender, race, disability, sexual orientation or religion and belief, making direct and indirect age discrimination illegal in employment unless objectively justified. Age discrimination occurs when someone treats a person less favorably because of that person’s age, and uses this as a basis for prejudice against and unfair treatment of that person, it can affect anybody regardless of how old they are.

“Employers need to comply with the legislation by checking that all their policies and procedures are in line with the requirements, and seeking advice where necessary” says Verity Slater of The Employment Team at Follett Stock “There is a need to adopt policies to move to an age neutral approach -  each stage of the employment cycle should be examined as discrimination can occur throughout a person’s working life. All those involved in making decisions about the employment and training of people need to understand the implications of age-stereotyping”.

The principles which outline good practice generally:

• Recruitment - should be based on skills, ability and potential;
• Selection - should be based on skills and ability;
• Promotion - should be based on ability or potential;
• Training and Development - all employees should be encouraged to take advantage of training opportunities
• Redundancy selection decisions - should be unbiased and based on objective job related criteria to ensure the skills needed to help the business are retained;
• Retirement schemes - should be fairly applied, taking individual and business needs into account.

Employers also need to be careful when advertising for a vacancy as discriminating on the grounds of age reduces employment prospects for older people, younger people and parents returning to work after a period of full-time childcare, it is seen to favour people in the age group 25 to 35 preventing the full consideration of abilities, potential and experience of employees.