Can an employer insist a person retires?

The recent case concerning a Nurse v A Nursing Home provides an invaluable lesson to all employers who may believe they can insist someone retires.

 A Nurse was forced to retire at 65 and brought a claim under the Employment Equality Act against her employer, resulting in an award of €85,000 compensation.

In this case, a few months before the Nurse's 65th birthday she received a letter from her employer advising that she would be retiring upon reaching her 65th birthday. This was in line with the clause she had in her contract stating that: “Retirement age is 65 years. Employment beyond retirement age is exceptional and only by agreement of the employer”.

As the Complainant did not wish to retire, the company agreed to extend her employment for a period of one year, on the basis of her permanent contract coming to an end and issuing a new Fixed Term Contract. At the end of this new contract, despite the nurses’ requests for further extension, the company refused to issue her a new fixed term contract and terminated her employment saying that it would not be possible for her to remain in employment. Following termination of her employment, the Nurse brought a claim for age discrimination under the Employment Equality Acts.

The employer failed to attend the hearing thus did not present any objective justification as to why the Claimant had been forced to retire. The Adjudicator stated “caselaw essentially requires an employer to demonstrate that fixing an age of retirement is not only objectively and reasonably justified by a legitimate aim but that retirement at that age is an appropriate and necessary means of achieving that aim” and awarded the complainant €85,000.

This case should be a reminder to employers who wish to nominate a retirement age, need to have a policy on retirement, which includes an objective and legitimate aim to justify nominating the retirement age and to be very careful when handling their retirement processes and policies.

Feel free to get in touch with MSS for advice on how to best approach retirement in your company

You can read more about the case under the below link:

https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/cases/2021/august/adj-00027325.html