The Court of Appeal has upheld the right of employers to enforce a retirement age.  Giving its ruling in the Seldon v Clarkson, Wright and Jakes case, the Court has ruled that employers who want to enforce a retirement age can rely on objectives that are purely beneficial to their own business, rather than to “society at large”.

Leslie Seldon, a former senior partner at the law firm Clarkson, Wright and Jakes, brought a case against the firm when he was forced to retire at the age of 65 in line with the firm’s partnership deed.

Partners are excluded from the default retirement age provisions in the 2006 Age Regulations, but the Court’s judgment upholds the right of partnerships to retire their partners at a chosen retirement age, providing it is proportionate way of achieving a legitimate business aim.

But more importantly, it confirms that employers, whether they are partnerships or companies, can justify age discrimination without being able to show that their actions pursue any form of public policy objective.

The legitimate business objectives cited by Clarkson, Wright and Jakes for enforcing its mandatory retirement age were:

• encouraging retention of more junior employees/partners by ensuring they are given the opportunity of promotion after a reasonable period;
• facilitating the planning of the business by having realistic expectations of when vacancies will arise; and
• encouraging a supportive and congenial atmosphere by avoiding the need to expel employees/partners by way of performance management.