The Heyday challenge received a setback last week - its argument that mandatory retirement ages are unlawful faltered at the first hurdle. The Advocate General (whose opinion the European Court of Justice normally follows), determined that the setting by national law of a mandatory retirement age for employees is not automatically unlawful. Further he indicated in his judgment that member states have wide discretion when applying the objective justification test.
Although the Advocate General’s decision is not binding and may not be followed by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) when it hands down its decision later this year, it adds further fire to the age discrimination debate.
