Age Discrimination Training Course
Duration
1 day
What is this course about?
New employment law legislation always presents a challenge for HR professionals and lawyers - but the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 are in a league of their own. The UK has not seen the introduction of such a fundamental and wide-ranging new right for employees since the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995. Indeed since the DDA only protects workers with a disability, and age discrimination can be claimed by workers of any age the impact of the new law is likely to be even greater.
Many employers make the mistake of assuming that the new law is merely about providing opportunities for older workers. However the reality is that workers of all ages can claim direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation and harassment based on age. Age related criteria and assumptions are much more deeply entrenched in workplace practices than many of us would like to think and the Age Regulations will cause nothing less than a revolution in the way in which employers are recruited, promoted and rewarded and eventually asked to retire.
To help you get to grips with this complex new area of law and make important strategic decisions about how you will continue to develop your working practices to deal with implications, we have designed a one-day course that takes you through the key elements of the Regulations and gives you an opportunity to discuss what they mean for your organisation - and make concrete plans for coping with the new rules.
If you have already changed your practices to eliminate age bias, then this course will help you test your new arrangements and ensure that your business is properly protected.
Who would benefit?
The course is ideal for teams of HR professionals in either the public or private sector. However it can be specifically designed for practicing employment lawyers and advisers, consultants, or senior line-managers.
Objectives
Running an in-house course on age discrimination will enable you to:
- educate your team on the importance of the new law
- understand how the law will impact on the different stages of the employment cycle
- take measures to minimise the risk of your organisation losing an age discrimination case.
Key topics covered
1. Introduction - why a law on age discrimination?
- The demographic problem
- Encouraging good practice
- The EC Equality Directive
- The process for introducing the law in the UK
2. Outline of the Age Discrimination Regulations
- Coverage and scope
- Direct and indirect discrimination
- Justifying age discrimination
- Benefits based on length of service
- Exceptions and exclusions
- Harassment based on age
3. Retirement
- Default retirement age
- Notification requirements
- The duty to consider retaining a retiring employee
- Retirement and unfair dismissal
4. Workshop 1 - the practical implications of age discrimination
Delegates will divide into small groups to consider the impact of age discrimination on a particular stage of the employment cycle - recruitment, promotion, pay and benefits and dismissal. Task will be to identify key risk areas for an employer and identify steps that should be taken to manage the risk. Conclusions will then be fed into the whole group for a general discussion. The output will be a series of key action points aimed at preparing for the new legislation.
5. Workshop 2 - Case studies
Delegates will be presented with a detailed hypothetical scenario in which a candidate for promotion claims that he was passed over on the basis of age. The task will be to advise the employer as to what elements in the selection process may have given the impression of age-related bias and how these mistakes can be corrected in the future.
6. Conclusions and round-up
