Work

Employees to be allowed work until State pension age of 66 under new law

Move would end anomaly that saw people obliged to retire a year before they could access pension

The retirement age issue has contributed to an increasing number of age discrimination cases at the Workplace Relations Commission. Photograph: iStock

Emmet Malone
Tue Mar 5 2024 - 19:55

Legislation allowing employees to continue working until 66, the age at which they become entitled to the State pension, is set to be introduced.

The move will allow employees currently obliged to retire before they become entitled to the state pension, commonly at 65 in the private sector, to inform their employers in writing of their intention to stay on.

The general issue has contributed to an increasing number of age discrimination cases at the Workplace Relations Commission, with more than 500 in 2022, and aspects of the current legislation has been the subject of a number of challenges in the courts.

More generally, the disparity between the age at which many private sector employees were obliged to leave their jobs and the age at which they became entitled to the State pension has long been criticised by unions and various NGOs as an anomaly.

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Since 2018 employees in many parts of the public sector have been entitled to continue working until the age of 70.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu), which has campaigned on the issue, welcomed a decision by the Cabinet on Tuesday to agree to proposals by Minister for Enterprise Simon Coveney.

“This reform recognises differences between what workers want and the type of work they do in giving them more choice about the age at which they retire,” said Ictu general secretary Owen Reidy. “Under the change which is expected to come into force later this year, workers can still retire at the age specified in their contract of employment. The decision to remain on in your job will be optional.”

The heads of the Employment (restriction of certain mandatory retirement ages) Bill now go to the Joint Oireachtas Committee for pre-legislative scrutiny.

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times

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