FSI

Age Discrimination - affect you?

Do your colleagues, managers, directors and HR teams really know what this new law is all about, how it affects organisations and what they should do differently?

The Issue

Age discrimination legislation is due to come into force on 1 October 2006 and will affect employees of any age.

The new protections apply to all stages of the employment process from recruitment to retirement and employers need to understand how the changes will affect their internal processes and be ready for the new law.

How exposed to claims is your business? Answer our short questionnaire to find out.

Have all staff who are involved in recruitment and interviews been fully trained on age discrimination and how it affects the way they do their jobs?
Have you ensured that your job application forms do not require applicants to give their date of birth or provide a photograph?
Have you provided age discrimination training to those staff in your organisation who write and place job adverts?
Do your managers know that there is a new retirement procedure coming into force on 1 October 2006 which organisations should be applying now?
Have you made sure that words such as 'junior' or 'senior' do not appear in job titles?
Are you sure that your employee pay and benefits are unaffected by age or length of service?
Do all your staff who are near retirement age have access to training and career development opportunities?
Do you have a process for evaluating an employee's request to continue working beyond retirement age?
Can you confirm that your redundancy selections would not be based on length of service?
Do all your staff understand that office banter such as 'over the hill' or 'wet behind the ears' could land you and them in an Employment Tribunal?

The consequences

If you are unable to answer YES to all the above questions, you may be at risk of CLAIMS OF UNLIMITED AMOUNT.

This new law, unlike previous legislation, is not just about revising documentation but about changing the way that you run your organisation to embrace age diversity.

The solution

Businesses need to consider these essential areas if they are to be confident that they are protected against claims:

Recruitment - review procedures including job adverts, application forms and interviews to ensure that they are not age discriminatory;
Contracts and documentation - audit to remove any age discriminatory terminology;
Pay and benefits - check that all terms of employment are not based on age but rather on individual performance and contribution;
Redundancy - process should not prejudice employees of any age;
Retirement - understand and implement new retirement procedure;
Training - ensure that all staff are aware of how age discrimination affects them and their responsibilities.

As employment experts, we are well placed to bring your organisation into line with the changes occurring in October. We can offer you a full consultation package which can be tailored to your needs and include advice and training on all areas affected by this new law.

We have attached full details of our advice package which includes guide prices for the different elements of the package.

If you would like to discuss creating a tailored package, please contact, in the first instance Howard Goulden or Carolyn Brown.