March 11, 2010
Employers Slammed for Using Forced Retirement Tactic on the Elderly
Employers in
Charities Age Concern and Help the Aged claim that about 100,000 people above the age of 65 were forced by employers to retire in 2009. They say this number is four times the number of employees they had expected to be affected when the law was implemented four years ago.
A survey of 1000 people in the age bracket of 60 to 70 was carried out by the charities, and they discovered that one-fourth of those questioned knew a person aged 65 or above who was coerced into retirement. The charities are now asking political parties to step in and put an end to the age discrimination practice.
Michelle Mitchell, the Charity Director of Age Concern and Help the Aged, said the poll was a proof that the problem of forced retirement was getting out of control. She said that employers were using the legislation to cost-effectively cut jobs during the economic recession.
Mitchell blasted the concept of the Default Retirement Age, saying it had led many to lose jobs. According to her, the tactic of forced retirement was utterly underhanded and discriminatory towards the elderly. She is now urging all the political parties to understand the seriousness of the issue and scrap this divisive legislation.
For anyone involved in human resources management, training and development, the Chartered Institute of Professional Development is the body to refer to. Make sure your organisation is up to date with employment relations developments with CIPD courses run by the trainers and consultants at Workplace Law, who have practical experience in the workplace, as well as sound legal knowledge to successfully help employers to set their own organisation’s policies and procedures in context and to develop the skills needed in employment practice.