Labour Research (September 2010)

Law Queries

Redundancy pay and age

Q. Our member is 66 years old. The company where we are employed is carrying out a redundancy exercise and he is facing joblessness. The management had previously undertaken that anyone (irrespective of their age and length of service) would receive a payment if they were made redundant. However, our member has now been informed that, as he is over the normal retirement age, he won’t receive anything. Where does he stand?

A. Prior to the introduction of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006, there was no entitlement to statutory redundancy pay for those over 65. However, since 1 October 2006, unless the individual is retired at the organisation’s normal retirement age (which is usually 65) a redundancy payment will be due.

To not pay it would amount to age discrimination and in these circumstances your member would be well advised to act quickly and bring a claim in the tribunal challenging such a decision.

Also, your member may have a contractual entitlement to a redundancy payment. Consider whether the undertaking to make a redundancy payment irrespective of age and service, can be shown to have been incorporated into individual’s contracts.

This may have occurred by expressly being stated to be a contractual entitlement, or by virtue of custom and practice (for example, by being consistently and automatically applied over a period of years and being widely known about).


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