Retirement is no longer a fair reason for dismissal

Compulsory or forced retirement is a dismissal. Until 2011, retirement could be a “fair reason” for dismissal, as long as a statutory retirement procedure was followed. In April 2011, the statutory retirement procedure was abolished, along with the default retirement age (DRA) that had previously enabled employers to forcibly retire employees at age 65.

It is still possible for employers to have a contractual retirement age and to require employees to retire once they reach that age. However, that contractual retirement age will be age discriminatory unless it can be objectively justified. For the law on age discrimination and forced retirement see Chapter 6: Discrimination, pages 182-184.