Mandatory Retirement In Professional Services Firms

On May 22, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in McCormick v Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP. The Court found that John McCormick, an equity partner in Faskens, was not an employee for the purposes of the British Columbia's Human Rights Code and that his mandatory retirement at age 65 was not contrary to the Code.

Faskens' partnership agreement, like many professional services firms' partnership agreements, provided for mandatory retirement of all equity partners when they turned 65. In 2009, when McCormick was 64, he commenced a claim against Faskens alleging that the mandatory retirement provisions of the partnership agreement discriminated against him on the basis of age and, as such, infringed his human rights under the Code.