Can an employee over the age of 65 who is dismissed claim unfair dismissal?
Potentially yes, depending on how the dismissal is managed. The Regulations give employees the ‘right to request’ to work beyond the default retirement age of 65 or any other justified retirement age set by the employer, while placing a requirement on employers to have a planned retirement process (by giving advance notice of an intended retirement date) together with a ‘duty to consider’ procedure to address requests from employees to work beyond this date. Employers who have a stated normal retirement age must follow these procedures. Failure to follow the procedures where they apply will make any dismissal automatically unfair and may lead to increased compensation for age discrimination. Employers who, in line with the Age Regulations, chose not to implement a default retirement age at all do not have to follow these procedures but instead must use performance management procedures to effect a dismissal. In such circumstances the reason for dismissal will not be retirement and the
