It is unlawful to discriminate against employees, job seekers and trainees because of their age. There is no upper age limit in respect of the law.
Direct Discrimination
Age Discrimination can take many forms; for example it would be unlawful to dismiss someone or not consider them for a promotion just because of their age. Age discrimination is the only type of discrimination in which an employer is entitled to provide an explanation for direct discrimination which can potentially defeat a claim. This is known as “objective justification”.
Indirect Age Discrimination
It may also be discriminatory for a company to put into place a provision, criterion or practice which indirectly puts those of a particular age group at a disadvantage i.e. a job advertisement looking for an employee under 30 may discriminate against older candidates who may have the relevant experience and qualifications to do the job.
Age discrimination can also apply regardless of whether the discrimination relates to your age. It can also apply for instance as a result of your association with a family member (for example caring for an elderly family member), this may also be classed as age discrimination.
Victimisation
An employer would be guilty of age discrimination by victimisation if it treated an individual less favourably because they had pursued a complaint (i.e. internal grievance or formal complaint, or brought a claim) about age discrimination or because they supported a colleague in their complaint.
Harassment
It is unlawful to harass a person because of his or her age. Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person’s age. Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren’t very serious, harassment is unlawful when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision (such as the victim being fired or demoted).
The harasser can be the victim’s supervisor, a supervisor in another area, a co-worker, or someone who is not an employee of the employer, such as a client or customer.
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