Age discrimination growing despite new legislation

04/01/2008

Employers are being reminded that staff ages must not affect decision-making, as new research reveals age discrimination is becoming the biggest office grievance.

According to HR consultants Croner, one year on from the implementation of age discrimination laws, more than 10% of employees still feel they have been discriminated against due to their age.

This compares with only 8% who felt they had been discriminated against as a result of their sex. Age and sex were also cited as the most prominent forms of workplace harassment.

The research also revealed that employment tribunals went up by 15% over the last 12 months.

Gillian Dowling, technical consultant at Croner, said:

“Despite the massive efforts by organisations such as Croner to ensure all employers were aware of how to comply with age discrimination legislation, this form of prejudice has quickly become one of the more prominent forms of workplace discrimination defined by employment law.”

Dowling said that although sex discrimination remained the leading cause of employment tribunals, age discrimination was experienced by more employees which could soon lead to a sharp rise in legal action against bosses.

She added: “We’re therefore advising employers to ensure that ‘too young’ or ‘too old’ is no longer a factor in ANY employment decision making, such as hiring and firing, and they should also be aware of any unfair treatment of their employees.”