25th May 1998 at Bedford Tribunal (case no 1200143/98)
NOTES

Simpson v British Timken Ltd was heard on 25th May 1998 at Bedford Tribunal (case no 1200143/98) and referred to the ECJ.


UK law provides that dismissed employees do not have unfair dismissal and/or statutory redundacy pay after a certain age (basically 65 but see Unfair Dismissal/age limits/upper limit and Redundancy/age limits/upper limit for more precise detail).

The question of whether this age limit is unlawful in an unfair dismissal context (under EC equal rights laws) was raised in 1998 in a case before the Croydon tribunal (see Nash v Mash Roe Group Ltd 1998 IRLR 168).

The same question has now arisen in a case in which a woman aged 67 claimed the right to statutory redundancy pay (Simpson v British Timken Ltd, noted above). The Bedford tribunal has referred this case too to the ECJ.

For earlier consideration of a similar question see Cannon v Barnsley Metropolitan Council EAT 1992 ICR 698, EAT.

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