Retirement age

Case 4: The facts

When Brian Payne started work, his employer operated retirement ages of 65 for men and 60 for women. Following the European Court of Justice’s decision in Barber v Guardian Royal Exchange C-262/88, which required pension benefits to be the same for men and women, the employer set a common retirement age of 62 for both sexes.

Barber wanted to work until he was 65, but was compulsorily retired the day before his 62nd birthday. The issue was whether the imposition of the new retirement age amounted to a breach of contract.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that Payne’s contractual retirement age was 65 and not 62, so his dismissal had been a breach of contract. Payne had made it clear that he objected to the change in retirement age, and the contractual retirement age was not defined by his employer’s pension scheme.

Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Group plc v Payne UKEAT/0122/05 ([2005] IRLR 848)