Anna Rogers comments in Professional Pensions as employment tribunal rejects age discrimination claims
An employment tribunal ruled that the government did not discriminate against younger workers when it introduced transitional arrangements to the Firefighters Pension Scheme.
The judgement, delivered by the Central London Employment Tribunal on 15 February, rejected age discrimination claims brought forward by the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) against the Home Office.
Anna Rogers commented on the significance of the case: “It is interesting that discrimination claims are bubbling up across public and private sector schemes on a range of issues that involve reducing accrued or future benefits.”
Anna went on to say: “These questions are being asked: do you have power to reduce benefits? This is a question of law that comes up specially on accrued benefits like RPI to CPI changes. And if benefits are reduced, or denied like in the Brewster case, does this have a discriminatory effect and can it be justified? The message for employers seems to be think in advance what your aim is and if you have evidence to justify the means of achieving it.”
Read the full article in Professional Pensions here.
The views in this article are intended for general information purposes only and should not be used as a substitute for professional advice. Arc Pensions Law and the author(s) are not responsible for any direct or indirect result arising from any reliance placed on content, including any loss, and exclude liability to the full extent. Always seek appropriate legal advice from a suitably qualified lawyer before taking, or avoiding taking, any action. If you have any questions on the points raised in the above, please do not hesitate to get in touch.