Redundancy or Retirement?

abagnale

My mum turns 65 in July and has been informed by her workplace that they will retire her off.

In the mean time at the place she works at, most people will be getting made redundant in the next 2-3 months.

By June/July, she reckons there won't be any work for her to do anyway. (That's fact.)

So is this a case of her workplace keeping her on the payroll until she retires so that they don't have to pay her redundancy? She's been at her workplace for 10plus years.

If so, is there anything she can do about it? She would prefer the redundancy.

Any thoughts or advice would be welcome.

Thanks.

ultrarunner

You are right, the employer are doing this to save themselves the redundancy payout.

The default retirement age of 65 is being phased out from April, so this practice won't be possible in the future.

However there is a loophole which sounds like it will impact on your mum. If they have advised your mum of her retirement date before April 6th 2011, and if she turns 65 before October 1st 2011, and from what you say both of these facts are true, then she is still subject to compulsory retirement.

It may be worth seeking further advice from an employment lawyer or trade union if she has one as if they make the other employees redundant before the date she is due to be compulsorily retired then there may be a case for unfair treatment.