The Age Discrimination Act came into force on 1 October and employers are being warned that the legislation goes much further than they think.

While it is obvious that age requirements should not be specified on job adverts, the request for a Degree or even A Levels could be seen as discriminatory, as the likelihood of older applicants having either is far less than that of their younger competition.

Firms should also train managers to avoid stereotypes;

make sure training is open to all employees; set the same standards for performance appraisal regardless of age; and not use length of service as a selection procedure in redundancy cases as this too is likely to be discriminatory.

Source

Electrical and Mechanical Contractor