The EAT has confirmed that applying a cap to payments under a redundancy scheme to ensure that employees close to pension age do not receive a windfall can be justified as a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

A forty two year old banker was discriminated on the grounds of his age after his employer fired him and sought to replace him with someone with a "younger, entrepreneurial" style.

A change from one policy to another policy cannot in itself be a provision, criterion or practice for the purposes of the Age Regulations.

The Court of Appeal has dismissed Rolls Royce's appeal against the High Court's decision that use of length of service as a criterion in redundancy selection is lawful.

This case was originally heard by an employment tribunal and its decision delivered in December 2007. An appeal against the tribunal’s decision was heard by the Employment Appeal Tribunal in July 2008.

An employment tribunal rules that an enhanced redundancy scheme which gave greater credit for service over 40 was unlawful as the employer could not identify a legitimate aim for the less favourable treatment of the younger employees.

Lawful use of length of service in redundancy selection criteria.

Court v Dennis Publishing Ltd involved a claimant dismissed for being too old.

The EAT rules that ICI can potentially justify both age and service elements in their enhanced redundancy scheme.

An age cut-off for redundancy payments can be justified if pension provision adequately cushions the impact of financial loss