The Law of Unintended Consequences…
by Philip
No doubt when the Age Discrimination laws were proposed and implemented, Trade Unions were pleased that their wish about further rights in the work place for employees was being granted. As the Age Discrimination Regs implement an EU Directive, the UK Government was obliged to amend or repeal any existing legislation that was age discriminatory. One such piece of legislation that was deemed discriminatory and amended was the statutory instrument governing Local Authority pensions. The end result was that the Rule of 85 which allowed local authority employees to retire on a full pension has been abolished. The Rule of 85 allowed employees to retire on a full pension if their age and service added up to 85 or more. The Trade Unions challenged this abolition by Judicial Review, but the High Court ruled that the government was within its rights to remove the rule. The moral of the story, be careful what you wish for!
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