Search results

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to report on fieldwork observation of direct age discrimination cases within employment tribunal (ET) hearings over a three-year period. The observation focussed upon whether the witness evidence revealed age stereotyping by employers and whether the ET panel addressed the stereotyping in its questioning and in its judgments. The observation was combined with an analysis of jurisprudence relating to direct age discrimination over an 11-year period.

This research analysed a sample of 90 ET judgments concerning direct age discrimination, which included five fieldwork observation cases concerning direct age discrimination in an ET.

This paper opens a window on age stereotyping in the workplace, illuminating the existence of age stereotypes in the context of ETs and the approach of the courts towards stereotypes in the sample is analysed.

The fieldwork observation is limited to one ET and may not necessarily be representative of all tribunals; however, the findings are supported by a wider qualitative analysis of ET judgments.

This paper provides pertinent learning outcomes for claimants, employers and key implications of legal decisions for human resource policy and practice in organisations.

The paper is the first to conduct fieldwork observation on age stereotyping in an ET, combined with a profile of direct age discrimination claims over the period studied.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an analytical review of the key jurisprudence of the European Court and to present the argument that a more conservative approach is being adopted when considering the objective justification defence in dismissals by reason of retirement.

A review approach is adopted in the paper, with a primary focus on recent European Court decisions, whilst appreciating existing literature on the position of retirement cases. Attempts were made to draw together the evidence which suggests a shift in approach to objective justification in this context.

The paper reveals that the approach being adopted in retirement cases appears to be devaluing the age discrimination protections, through allowing individual, subjective reasons to justify less favourable treatment, despite the express wording of the Parent Directive precluding such an approach. It is highlighted that this could have damaging practical implications by placing a much lighter burden on employers when arguing objective justification of retirement dismissals.

The paper's main limitation is that it only considers case law from the European Court, without considering the approach adopted in any of the EU member states, where the eventual approach will be decided. However, this paper provides useful analysis of the approach being adopted in the European Court which is the ultimate interpreter of EU law, whilst questioning whether it is the correct approach.

The paper is the first to examine the shifting approach to objective justification in retirement cases.

This chapter reviews the historical and political context of immigration to Norway, patterns of ethnic inequality in the labour market, as well as how ethnic discrimination has been legislated, publically debated and studied in the Norwegian context. Drawing on the findings of a multimethod study of discrimination in the Norwegian labour market, combining a field experiment with employer-interviews, the chapter furthermore clarifies the extent of discrimination in ethnic minority applicants’ access to the labour market and discusses what mechanisms influence the level of ethnic discrimination ‘at work’. The field experiment reveals that young Norwegians of Pakistani heritage – the by far largest group among immigrant descendants in the country – face substantial discrimination when applying for work. However, it also demonstrates striking differences in the scope of discrimination between the public and the private sector, as well as across occupational contexts, indicating that discrimination should not be seen as mere reflections of individual bias, ethnic preferences or statistical uncertainty, but rather that such individual-level dispositions are mediated through factors at the organizational level. This conclusion has important implications for our theoretical understanding of why discrimination occurs, as well as for the further development of anti-discrimination measures.

This article is the first of a series on older people's mental health services (OPMH Focus 2008‐09). It sets out some of the challenges facing commissioners, and uses recommendations from a recent inquiry to outline possible commissioning objectives.

This paper aims to examine the employment and training of mature‐aged workers, so that suggestions for improving training for mature‐aged workers may be offered.

Six expert interviews were carried out by telephone, and three case studies involving company site visits were completed. Each company case study involved interviews with managers, trainers and mature‐aged workers. The study was confined to the manufacturing industry.

Mature‐aged workers bring many advantages to workplaces and some employers show a definite preference for them over younger workers; but in some cases training needs to take account of lack of confidence and literacy and health issues. However, there is great diversity among mature‐aged workers.

The research is confined to shop‐floor workers in manufacturing, and does not address training of mature‐aged managers and professionals. The research is small‐scale but provides new insights, and importantly the voices of the workers themselves.

The paper identifies managerial and training practices that can immediately be implemented.

The paper identifies some issues that can be taken up at a policy level as well as within companies. For example, the preference for qualification‐based training at a national level is not necessarily consistent with what mature‐aged workers prefer.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the politicisation of age discrimination in relation to the enactment of anti-discrimination legislation in Finland and Sweden in the early-2000s. By showing how politicians constructed the meaning of age discrimination, it seeks to highlight the drivers of country variation in terms of the implementation of directives from the European Union (EU).

The paper uses a comparative design based on content analyses of parliamentary documents. Theoretically, it uses discursive institutionalism as a starting point but it also builds on previous research/theories on age discrimination.

The findings show that although age was seen as a ground for discrimination in both countries, there was surprisingly little debate about discrimination as societal problem. There was however considerable differences between the countries suggesting that age discrimination was a much more heated subject in Sweden.

Although the analysis focuses on a small part of the policy-making process it highlights drivers (such as political culture) that may cause variation in the ways age discrimination is politicised, even within similar welfare state regimes. It also suggests that more research is needed to fully understand such drivers.

The paper presents examples that can help analysts and the public to deconstruct institutionalised practices of age discrimination and thereby to understand how age discrimination practices may prevail in society.

By analysing the ways in which age discrimination was constructed as a problem within national policy-making frameworks, the paper presents valuable insights as to the sources of country variation in relation to the implementation of EU directives.

The Howard Shuttering Contractors case throws considerable light on the importance which the tribunals attach to warnings before dismissing an employee. In this case the tribunal took great pains to interpret the intention of the parties to the different site agreements, and it came to the conclusion that the agreed procedure was not followed. One other matter, which must be particularly noted by employers, is that where a final warning is required, this final warning must be “a warning”, and not the actual dismissal. So that where, for example, three warnings are to be given, the third must be a “warning”. It is after the employee has misconducted himself thereafter that the employer may dismiss.