LRD guides and handbook May 2017

Law at Work 2017

Chapter 10

Retirement no longer a fair reason for dismissal 



[ch 10: page 370]

Compulsory or forced retirement is a dismissal. Retirement is no longer a fair reason for dismissal, following the abolition, in April 2011, of the statutory retirement procedure and the default retirement age (DRA) which was set at 65. 



Employers can have a contractual retirement age and can 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 7: Discrimination, page 266.