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Current laws 'discriminate against older workers'
Posted by Emily Jones
A charity has called for changes to current employment laws, which it says discriminate against older people.
In a pre-election manifesto, Age Concern and Help the Aged is calling on all parties to pledge to end mandatory retirement legislation which enables employers to force people to give up their roles once they reach the age of 65.
Figures cited by the organisation - which is due to change its name to Age UK this spring - suggest that around 100,000 older staff members in the UK were made to retire last year.
Responding to the statistics, its director, Michelle Mitchell, said: "Our survey clearly shows the use of forced retirement has spiralled out of control‚ offering some employers a low-cost shortcut to shed jobs during the recession."
She went on to say that current laws in this area are one of the most "disturbing" examples of age discrimination in Britain at present.
26/02/2010 15:33
News category: Employment