Equality Comes of Age!

The subject of fairness and equality in the U.K. is often seen as controversial..

The subject of fairness and equality in the U.K.  is often seen as controversial and now laden with so-called ‘political correctness’. However, more recent legislation has introduced a number of measures to deal with discrimination on the grounds of age and this seems to have captured the imagination of many U.K. residents, as, needless to say it covers people of all ages, young and old.

In the past, many older people who have applied for jobs have been politely told that they are simply too old. The new laws specifically prohibit this and many other forms of discrimination. It is designed to protect young people as well. For instance should a company want to promote someone to the post of supervisor, they cannot assume that a person who has all the requisite skills to supervise cannot do so just because of their age.

The new law also prohibits  discrimination in the provision of goods and services. Take, for example, the case of a 48 year –old woman, who was told at the door of a London Nightclub that she couldn’t come in as the club was primarily ‘for 20 somethings’ and she would not enhance the image of the club. Should she take the matter to Court, she could now win damages against the club for such an insult.

Another interesting aspect of this law is the prohibition harassment in the workplace of people on the grounds of age. As a result, employees who are subjected to inappropriate behaviours by managers or colleagues because of their age, are protected by law and can apply to an Employment Tribunal for a hearing. It must be said that the harassment must be more substantial than the occasional ribbing of someone because of their age. The harassment must have a serious affect on the individual.

An example of such a case is what happened to Joe X. Joe was just 16 years old when he joined the vehicle maintenance company. All the other employees were in their 30’s or older.

Apart from calling him ‘baby face’, and leaving nappies on top of his locker, other employees were constantly ‘taking the mickey’ out of him because of his age. More seriously, they gave him all the dirty jobs (which were supposed to shared amongst all operatives). They even went as far as to smear dog excrement  on some of the body panels he was required to clean. They went on harassing him by excluding him from social events and covering his locker with Transformers  and My Little Pony children’s toy stickers.  It all got far too much for Joe and he left the company, with as his Doctor described it, symptoms of severe stress.

Now some of you might say that Joe should have toughened up,  grown a thicker skin or just got out earlier. Indeed when the matter came to tribunal these were exactly the arguments (amongst  others) that were put forward by the company defending Joe’s action for constructive dismissal and harassment on the grounds of age. The chair of the Tribunal dismissed these defences as ‘ frankly, ridiculous..... a place of work should be safe and secure for everyone, regardless of their age or vulnerability or sensibility to this type of mistreatment.’

Another area that this law covers is retirement age.  There is no compulsory retirement age set in the regulations. The Government can set such an age, indeed the Spanish Government have just agreed to raise the compulsory retirement age to 67 by increments over the next few years. Under the regulations, no-one can be forced to retire due to their age, unless they are over any compulsory age set by the Government. 

It can be argued that this could result in less job opportunities for younger people, however, the UK has skills shortages in key sectors of employment, demonstrated by the employment of many people from Eastern Europe in certain jobs, such as the building industry and HGV and PSV (Bus) Driving.

Overall then, the UK has come of age with equality legislation, providing these new regulations are taken seriously by employers. If they don’t, then they could face increasing litigation and dissatisfied employees for many years to come.

B. A. Ryster