Addressing age stereotyping against older workers in employment: The CJEU and UK approach

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report on an analysis of direct age discrimination cases by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the UK courts and employment tribunals over an 11-year period. The paper focusses upon age stereotyping towards older workers and analyses whether it is endorsed at the European level and/or national level.

Design/methodology/approach

This research has analysed a sample of 100 employment tribunal judgments concerning direct age discrimination together with 28 CJEU decisions on direct age discrimination.

Findings

This paper highlights that there are a number of cases in which age stereotyping has been endorsed at the CJEU level. By contrast, the UK courts and employment tribunals have adopted a more robust approach.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is that it only considers case law from the European Court and the influence on the UK case law, without analysing the eventual decisions of the other EU member states.

Originality/value

The paper contributes to the debate with regard to the approach of the CJEU and the UK courts and employment tribunals in tackling age stereotyping and is the first to examine the influence the CJEU decisions has had on the UK jurisprudence over the period studied.

Citation

Bengtsson, L. (2020), "Addressing age stereotyping against older workers in employment: The CJEU and UK approach", International Journal of Law and Management, Vol. 62 No. 1, pp. 67-92. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-01-2019-0019

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