Social Policy – The court considered what went to make up age discrimination: ‘the Court acknowledged that rewarding, in particular, experience acquired which enables the worker to perform his duties better constitutes a legitimate objective of pay policy. As a general rule, recourse to the criterion of length of service is appropriate to attain that objective. Length of service goes hand in hand with experience, and experience generally enables the worker to perform his duties better.
The employer is therefore free to regard length of service without having to establish the importance it has in the performance of specific tasks entrusted to the employee.’
Citations:
C-17/05, [2006] EUECJ C-17/05, [2007] CEC 318, [2007] 1 CMLR 16, [2007] All ER (EC) 1, [2006] ECR I-9583, [2006] ICR 1623, [2006] IRLR 969, Times 06-Oct-2006
Links:
Jurisdiction:
European
Cited by:
Cited – Rolls Royce Plc v Unite the Union QBD 17-Oct-2008
The company had entered into collective agreements with the union governing criteria and procedures for redundancy selection. The company said that the criteria were not compliant with the age discrimination regulations.
Held: The union was . .
Cited – Rolls-Royce plc v Unite the Union CA 14-May-2009
The parties disputed whether the inclusion of length of service within a selection matrix for redundancy purposes would amount to unlawful age discrimination. The court was asked whether it was correct to make a declaratory judgment when the case . .
Applied – Wilson v Health and Safety Executive CA 20-Oct-2009
The employer appealed against a finding that it had acted in an equal pay claim in allowing for length of service.
Held: The employer’s appeal was dismissed. Decisions based on length of service tended to discriminate against women, because . .
Cited – Essop and Others v Home Office (UK Border Agency) SC 5-Apr-2017
The appellants alleged indirect race and belief discrimination in the conditions of their employment by the respondent. Essop came as lead claimant challenging the tests used for promotion. Statistics showed lower pass rates for BME candidates, but . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
European, Discrimination
Updated: 24 July 2022; Ref: scu.245179
