Age discrimination is when you are treated differently because of your age.
Age Discrimination
Age discrimination, or ageism, is when you are treated unfavourably due to your age. You are protected from age discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, which is there to protect us from discrimination, harassment and victimisation.
However, employers can make a decision based on someone’s age if they can show it to be justified and proportionate in a very specific set of circumstances.
Not only does ageism in the workplace harm employee wellbeing, but it also limits their ability to offer valuable insights and perspectives, hindering the success of the organisation.
Stereotyping
At the heart of age-based discrimination is negative stereotypes associated with certain age groups. Ageism can occur on both ends of the spectrum; it is not just against older generations.
Younger employees can be viewed as less reliable, less capable and less hard-working due to their age, and older employees can be seen as less adaptable, less trainable and lacking in technological competence.
Both of these viewpoints are damaging and can lead to both groups being overlooked for training opportunities and promotions.
Types and Examples of Age Discrimination
There are four main types of age discrimination:
- Direct discrimination happens when someone treats you worse than another person in a similar situation because of your age
- Indirect discrimination happens when your organisation has a policy or particular way of working that applies in the same way for everyone but disadvantages people of your age group
- Harassment is defined as ‘unwanted conduct’ and must be related to a relevant protected characteristic, which in this case, is age. This conduct may make you feel humiliated, offended or degraded due to your age
- Victimisation is when you are treated badly because you have made a complaint of age discrimination, or are supporting someone else who has
The above table shows examples for each of these types of age discrimination, taken from Age UK’s website.
Ageism in the workplace can take place in many different forms. It could include:
- Denying access to resources, opportunities, spaces or services
- Salaries based on seniority rather than performance
- Reduced learning and development opportunities
- Forcing or encouraging early retirement
- Failing to hire people based on their age
- Ageist language
- Allocating tasks based on age, such as giving older employees less challenging or more tedious tasks
- Exclusion from social activities
- Rebranding roles, by phasing out positions and then bringing a younger employee in to carry out the same responsibilities under a different title
UNISON has outlined some exceptions to age discrimination on their website. These include:
- Benefits based on length of service
- Minimum wage – a young person can be paid less if they are being paid the lower minimum wage, and this is the rate for which they qualify
- Enhanced redundancy payments, provided that these payments are calculated on the same basis
- Limiting access to insurance or related financial services to those aged under the state pensionable age
- Providing child care only for children of a certain age
- Contributions to personal pension schemes – certain age-based criteria are permitted in respect of occupational pension schemes
Positive Action vs Positive Discrimination
Positive discrimination is not allowed in equality law, but positive action is. Positive action can be used to help underrepresented groups enter the workplace. For example, an employer may find that they have a lack of representation of older people in their workplace, and so chooses to state in their recruitment adverts that older people are welcome to apply.
This is different from positive discrimination, where organisations give preferential treatment to people because of a protected characteristic they have, rather than basing it on their suitability for the role. For example, if that same employer decided to only accept applications from older candidates, even though a younger person could do the job equally well, this would be positive discrimination.