AGE CONCERN ENGLAND - Case C-388/07, The Incorporated Trustees of the National Council on Ageing (Age Concern England) v Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2009 in the subject Law - Civil / Private / Industrial / Labour, grade: A-, University of Basel (Europainstitut), course: Social-Non Discrimination Law, language: English, abstract: The judgments of the European Court of Justice (hereinafter “ECJ”) are not often covered bymedia. With an exception, there are some cases that have a great impact in everyday life ofnationals of the European Union (hereinafter “EU”). One of such cases is the long-awaitedAge Concern England, which is significant for confirming that Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 thNovember 2000 (Employment Equality Directive, hereinafter “Directive”) prohibitsdiscrimination on grounds of age.On 5th March 2009, the ECJ referred a decision back to the High Court after clarifying thatsocial policy objectives “such as those related to employment and the labour market” may beconsidered legitimate under EC law. This means that employers can still lawfully dismissemployees at the age of 65. In the context of Directive, the present case both covers personalscope (the Directives apply to all persons: natural and legal, in the EU regardless ofnationality, public and private sector) and material scope (question if retirement ages coveredby Directive).In fact, Age Concern England case “enriches case law of discrimination on grounds of age,especially on the obligations of the Member States (hereinafter, “MS”) in respect of theprohibition of discrimination on grounds of age laid down in Article 2 (hereinafter – “Art.”)of Directive, particularly the degree with which that prohibition must be transposed intonational law.” Moreover, Age Concern England continues case law of earlier cases involvingarguments regarding discrimination on grounds of age, for example, Mangold, Lindorfer,Palacios de la Villa and Bartsch.Opinions among employment lawyers and other experts differ regarding the implications ofthe Age Concern England judgment. For employers, generally, this is a good decision; theycan dismiss employees if they wish to. On balance, this is crucial judgment for workers aged65 and over. There are approximately ten thousand people aged 65 that are forcibly dismissedevery year in United Kingdom (hereinafter “UK”).