ECJ has thrown Heyday back to High Court

The European Court of Justice in Heyday has referred the matter back to the UK High Court; In the ECJ's judgement they have held that social policy objectives, "such as those related to employment policy and the labour market", may be considered 'legitimate' under the EU directive.

They then went on to rule that it is for the national court to decide whether or not the legislation reflects such a legitimate aim and furthermore whether or not the means chosen were necessary to achieve those aims. Frankly it seems a long winded way of saying that 'its upto you'!

There are over 800 claims stayed pending the decision in Heyday and I think the way things are going the courts will probably slam the floodgates shut and hold that they are entitled to introduce a default retirement age. However stranger things have happened!

There are also a record number of other age discrimination claims presented to the Employment Tribunals - this is only set to increase whether or not the result in Heyday is positive. If you need advice on this issue please contact me on gda@hrlegalpartners.com