20-03-2008
Small businesses warned about age legislation
News by Adfero for Simply Business - independent providers of public liability insurance, business finance, landlord insurance, buy-to-let mortgages & commercial mortgages.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has issued a warning to small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in relation to age discrimination legislation.
Freda Line, a representative from the CIPD, an organisation established in 2000, has warned that, as employees have a tendency to be more aware of their rights than employers, SMEs should ensure that age is not used as a reason for the termination of someone's employment.
Moreover, Ms Line cautioned that an awareness of age discrimination legislation among SMEs is relatively low and that such organisations lack the support of a dedicated human resources department.
"It will be interesting to see what happens when and if a recession starts to bite. It will be more difficult for employers to dump wholesale loads of older workers," said Ms Line.
"We've already seen some pretty interesting employment tribunals using the age discrimination regulations."