1 / 17

Age discrimination

Age discrimination in the workplace Hilary Metcalf National Institute of Economic and Social Research. Age discrimination. ‘After comments from Mr Huhne questioning Sir Menzies' ability to lead the party in the next parliament due to his age,……’ The Guardian

brenda-barton
Download Presentation

Age discrimination

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Age discrimination in the workplace Hilary MetcalfNational Institute of Economic and Social Research

  2. Age discrimination ‘After comments from Mr Huhne questioning Sir Menzies' ability to lead the party in the next parliament due to his age,……’ The Guardian ‘The Tories were privately rejoicing that the Lib Dems had a leader [Menzies Campbell] who … was "too old".’ The Daily Telegraph ‘[Kenneth Clarke’s] opponents in the party ranks have been careful to remind their colleagues that Michael Howard, who resigned the leadership to make way for a fresh face, is a year younger [than Ken Clarke].’ The Times

  3. Competence Nelson Mandela elected President of South Africa aged 75, retired aged 80. Ronald Reagan became President of the USA aged 70, re-elected President aged 74, left office aged 79. Winston Churchill’s third term as Prime Minister started at the age of 76. He resigned aged 80. Rupert Murdoch, aged 75 runs one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, with revenue of over $23 billion.

  4. Age discrimination Age discrimination consists of actions which directly or indirectly affect people differently by age It can take place against people of any age: old, young and in-between

  5. Age discrimination Direct • age–related pay • age criterion for • recruitment, training, • promotion, benefits • mandatory retirement Indirect • recruitment and promotion criteria, using: • period to retirement • expected length of service • length of experience • qualifications • service-related pay and benefits

  6. The legislation: exceptions • national default retirement age • youth pay rates • redundancy benefits • benefits related to length of service of under five years

  7. The legislation: other exceptions Genuine occupational requirement: where ‘possessing a characteristic related to age is a genuine and determining occupational requirement; [and] it is proportionate to apply that requirement in the particular case’ Length of service criteria of more than five years: where the criterion ‘fulfils a business need of his undertaking (for example, by encouraging the loyalty or motivation, or rewarding the experience, of some or all of his workers)’.

  8. Employers’ practices • representative survey of 2087 establishments with 5 or more employees • conducted November 2004 - May 2005 • respondent: most senior person with an overview of human resource policies

  9. Recruitment: discriminatory practices • maximum recruitment age 43% (under 65) (4%) • recruitment advertisements specify age 6% • target younger people for recruitment 10% • target older people for recruitment 7% • selection criteria include: - age 9% - potential length of service, judged by age 7% - potential length of service, judged by period to retirement 18%

  10. Promotion and training promotion affected by - age 4% training selection criteria: - age 1% - period to retirement 8% - potential length of service, judged by age 1%

  11. Pay: discriminatory practices starting salary takes into account age 13% youth rates 11% pay affected by age (other than youth rates) 5% length of service increments 21% (automatic increments for more than 5 years) (5%)

  12. Pay: hazardous practices starting salary affected by expected potential 28% pay affected by expected likelihood of leaving 16% merit pay without formal assessment 15%

  13. Other benefits

  14. Redundancy (compulsory) • selection criteria include • age 12% • length of service 40% • (last in first out, LIFO, 28%) • redundancy pay (enhanced) affected by • age 10% • length of service 27%

  15. Retirement • compulsory retirement age: - under 65, 6% - 65, 27% - over 65, 2% • Abolition of compulsory age • 73% operate without a compulsory age or with flexible retirement age

  16. Conclusions • age plays a direct role in a wide range of policies and practices, most seriously in: • recruitment • compulsory retirement • redundancy • time-related factors play a direct role in a wide range of policies and practices, most seriously in: • pay and benefits • redundancy

  17. Age discrimination in the workplace Hilary MetcalfNational Institute of Economic and Social ResearchMetcalf, H. with Meadows, P. (2006) Survey of employers' policies, practices and preferences relating to age. DWP Research Report No 325/DTI Employment Relations Research Series No 49. London: DWP/DTI. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/rrep325.pdf

More Related