Retirement Age / Contract not signed

Allison1707

Registered User
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Hi All
I have two issues at the moment and Im hoping someone on here will have more knowledge than myself.

I have an Employee who is with us over 10years. In that time the Employee has never provided a Date of Birth

7 years ago written Contracts of Employment were issued to all old Employees. Written contracts were never issued before this date. The contracts are based on the Construction Industry standard contract of employment. The Contracts and Industry norm state Retirement Age is 65.
In our Company Employees have always retired at 65.
I understand that this is now under question due to Equality legislation/EU legislation and Ageism court cases. But there seems to be conflicting thoughts on this in the courts etc and Im getting really confused.
The Contract of Employment was issued stating 65 and Company Policy+Construction Industry has always been Retirement at 65.

I know as the Pension age is raised this issue is going to come up in every company.

The Employee is now turning 65 and wants to continue on working. The company is undecided as to where they stand.

To be considered;
1) Is the old contract illegal?
2) Can the employee be retired at 65?
3) If the Employee can stay on, how long will the Employee work for? Is it an indefinate date...
4) If something happens in the future, are we leaving ourselves wide open for Age Discrimination?

Even bigger concern... the Employment Contract with Terms and Conditions was issued, to several employee's but they were never signed or handed back. We now only have a copy of what was issued and issue date on all the guys files.. how can we get signed contracts back?

Sorry this is long winded. And any replys would be very gratefully received.
Thank you.
 
The fact that it is an established "Custom and Practice" in your company to retire at 65 should carry some weight. However the absence of a signed contract of employment would weaken that case.

A friend is in a kind of similar situation so I would be interested in the replies. Only difference with him is that he was 65 last summer and just continued on working (the only employee in the company over 65). No discussion was requested by either sides. I think it may suit the company at the moment as they are making major changes and he has specific skills that are useful during the changeover period.
 
Thank you Black Sheep for the reply and yes everyone so far has retired at 65 so this would set a precedent. I wonder what the position of your friend will be after the changeover period.....and I welcome any other comments please.
The company MD has been in touch with Nera and Citizens Advice and they are as confused as we are so I think it will have to go legal on this.
So any Law guys knocking about today....any ideas?
Thanks again
 
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