Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2009 in the subject Law – Civil / Private / Industrial / Labour, grade: A-, University of Basel (Europainstitut), course: Social-Non Discrimination Law, language: English, abstract: The judgments of the European Court of Justice (hereinafter “ECJ”) are not often covered by
media. With an exception, there are some cases that have a great impact in everyday life of
nationals of the European Union (hereinafter “EU”). One of such cases is the long-awaited
Age Concern England, which is significant for confirming that Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 th
November 2000 (Employment Equality Directive, hereinafter “Directive”) prohibits
discrimination on grounds of age.
On 5th March 2009, the ECJ referred a decision back to the High Court after clarifying that
social policy objectives “such as those related to employment and the labour market” may be
considered legitimate under EC law. This means that employers can still lawfully dismiss
employees at the age of 65. In the context of Directive, the present case both covers personal
scope (the Directives apply to all persons: natural and legal, in the EU regardless of
nationality, public and private sector) and material scope (question if retirement ages covered
by Directive).
In fact, Age Concern England case “enriches case law of discrimination on grounds of age,
especially on the obligations of the Member States (hereinafter, “MS”) in respect of the
prohibition of discrimination on grounds of age laid down in Article 2 (hereinafter – “Art.”)
of Directive, particularly the degree with which that prohibition must be transposed into
national law.” Moreover, Age Concern England continues case law of earlier cases involving
arguments regarding discrimination on grounds of age, for example, Mangold, Lindorfer,
Palacios de la Villa and Bartsch.
Opinions among employment lawyers and other experts differ regarding the implications of
the Age Concern England judgment. For employers, generally, this is a good decision; they
can dismiss employees if they wish to. On balance, this is crucial judgment for workers aged
65 and over. There are approximately ten thousand people aged 65 that are forcibly dismissed
every year in United Kingdom (hereinafter “UK”).
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