Legal advice: A matter of age
By Suzanne Davies of thePublican.com's team of legal experts from London solicitors Joelson Wilson.
How important are age and image? For one licensee they have proved to be very important, considering she has lost her job.
According to reports, the licensee's pub had been refurbished and the pub's owners felt that she did not fit its new image. The licensee is convinced that at least part of the reason for this is her age - she is 55. Is this acceptable?
It is clear that a number of people think not. The pub owner's alleged actions caused 70 locals to petition, arguing she had run the pub for 20 years.
So what protection does the law offer for people in this position? In recent years, the law relating to discrimination has been extended to apply for example to sexual orientation, but as yet there is no legislation outlawing discrimination on the basis of age. The good news is that consultation is taking place to create new legislation to do just this and the deadline for implementation is 2006. In the future employers won't be able to get away with being ageist.
There are, however, concerns about the proposals. For example, the retirement age may be raised from 65 to 70 and there are fears that people may end up working longer than they would choose.
The proposed change will not help people currently in this situation because problems should be dealt with as soon as possible and there are time limits for bringing a claim to court. Although it is not yet possible to bring a claim for age discrimination there are other ways to respond to your employer's behaviour if, for example, your employer's actions breach the employment contract or your employer fails to follow proper procedures.
