Pension rights

Case 5: The facts

When Massey Ferguson made compulsory and voluntary redundancies, workers claimed they should have benefited from early retirement rules.

The ruling

The Court of Appeal held that there was no right to early retirement for the compulsory redundancies because they did not arise "at the request of the employer" (the description of early retirement). However, a voluntary redundancy was a request by employees and those who had volunteered were entitled to the early retirement provisions.

* Agco v Massey Ferguson Works Pension Trust [2003] IRLR 783