Age discrimination: 29 FAQs

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1. What are the requirements on age discrimination?
2. When did the requirements come into force?
3. In practice, we don't need to worry about these requirements unless we employ people in their 50s and 60s, do we?
4. In what way do these requirements affect our recruitment procedures?
5. So OK, we have to watch our language in our recruitment ads. Do we have to do anything else?
6. Our sales people are all in their 20s. If we recruited someone in his or her 60s, they just wouldn't fit. We don't have to, do we?
7. We don't have to recruit 17-year olds for jobs dealing with customers, do we? They'd obviously be no good.
8. Is the law really saying that I need quotas for each age group on my workforce?
9. We're looking for a new MD. It will take him or her a couple of years to find their feet, and we want at least five years' work thereafter. Do we have to consider people of 60-plus?
10. We like people to be physically fit, and this rules out most people over 40. Is this OK?
11. Are we allowed to advertise jobs specifically to age groups under-represented in our workforce?
12. We've got a vacancy for a supervisor, but the best internal candidate would be 20 years younger than some of the people they would be managing. What do we do?
13. Surely we can't be expected to select a 60 year-old for a job that requires two years' training?
14. Our management is in its late 50s. We're selecting people for promotion now, and have good candidates of that age, but we'll end up with a succession problem. Can we select from younger people?
15. We've got people who want to retire at 55. Do we have to stop them?
16. What do we do about people who are obviously slowing up as they approach retirement age?
17. We have been retiring people at 62. Do we have to keep them on until 65?
18. If we abandon a fixed retirement age altogether, does that mean that we could be done for unfair dismissal if we need to get rid of someone at 69 or 70?
19. We have an awkward employee in his late 50s, who we hoped was going to take early retirement. We couldn't take another seven years of him. What do you suggest?
20. We've got some good workers in their late 50s, and we'll be happy to keep them on, but they won't want to do it full time. Can we amend their terms?
21. What do we have to do for employees approaching retirement age, and what happens if we don't do it?
22. What exactly do the regulations mean, when they talk about a 'duty to consider' requests to work beyond 65?
23. Do we have to stop the youngsters making cracks about the golden oldies - and vice versa?
24. We require people to have at least one year's service before they qualify for a season ticket loan. Will this be banned?
25. We have a collective agreement with our union for improved redundancy terms for people with more than 20 years' service. Can this stand?
26. Can we continue to give longer-serving employees the pick of the holiday dates?
27. What is 'objective justification'?
28. What is a 'legitimate aim' under the regulations?
29. We plan to use length of service as a criterion when selecting employees for possible redundancies. Is this age discrimination?

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