Age Discrimination

by Philip

My take on the Age Discrimination laws from a public policy point of view is as follows:

a) It was unproductive for the economy and the country to allow employers to put employees out to grass too soon. The nation’s productivity would improve (as USA’s has) if robust age discriminations laws were in place to incentivise employers to use older workers. Utilising productive and spare capacity should improve productivity.

b) It was a way of partly defusing the pensions timebomb by getting both employers and employees into thinking that if you are fit and well there is no reason to stop working at 65. By getting people to work beyond 65 they are less of a drain on the state (and means tested pensions credit.) Of course some people already work past 65. A relative of mine was a “Butcher’s Boy” until well into his 80s, delivering meat to customers on his push bike. The policy consideration behind the law is an intention to make both employers and employees think that tools do not have to be downed at 65 (or pedals from being pushed).

All these policy consideration are under the spotlight as I write. We are all watching with bated breath ( or at least barely contained excitement) at the current tribunal case in London where a former city law firm partner is bringing an  age discrimination claim against Freshfields, a magic circle firm in London. For those outside the loop, magic circle does not mean the ability to saw women in half or pull rabbits out of hats, it is shorthand for being one of the top 5 law firms in size in the UK (although not necessarily ability!)

Having had magic circle firms on the other side in cases , their mind set and modus operandi in cases (in my experience) is two pints of caution, mixed with three litres of risk aversion, washed down by a gallon of excessive caution. My conclusion is that if they are running the case they stand a good chance of winning. Stretching the casino metaphor (beyond its useful life) and into a second week, my chips are on Freshfields. We’ll keep you posted and I promise not to say I told you so, if the roulette ball lands in the slot marked Freshfields. Read about it here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 10th, 2007 at 3:29 pm and is filed under Age Discrimination, Employment Tribunal Procedure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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