Age Discrimination Regulations Laid Before Parliament

The final draft of the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 have been published by the DTI and laid before Parliament. Subject to approval by Parliament, the regulations will come into force on 1 October 2006 although there will be transitional provisions in place until April 2007.

The regulations prohibit direct and indirect age discrimination but provide that both direct and indirect discrimination will be lawful if it pursues a legitimate aim and is proportionate. Although the draft regulations published in July last year contained some specific examples of what might amount to a legitimate aim for these purposes, these have been omitted from the final regulations.

A number of other changes have been made and the principal changes include: